On Tuesday over 170 female students visited BiOrbic to learn more about the bioeconomy. Spending the entire morning at UCD, 50 5th years and 120 second years were able to take a tour of the university, visit some of the BiOrbic labs and took part in a bioeconomy workshop.
First the bioeconomy was introduced to students and then they got hands on, designing public engagement activities that would help their local communities tackle issues related to bioeconomy and sustainability. We had four categories of:
- Increasing biodiversity
- Dealing with plastic waste
- Dealing with food waste
- Reducing carbon emissions
Students came up with some fantastic project ideas, including food waste reduction programmes at their school, changes to city infrastructure to encourage environmentally friendly transport options and gamification to encourage citizens to get involved.
It was a delight to welcome such talented students to the centre and hear their ideas. Thank you to Muckross Park College for their visit. Thanks to David O’Connell for organising the activity. And thank you to Patrick Guiry, Jessica Chambers, Conor Haugh and Sean Douglas for their contributions to the event.
