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Dr Yuanyuan Chen is a Principal Investigator in the Polymer, Recycling, Industrial, Sustainability and Manufacturing (PRISM) at the Technological University of the Shannon: Midlands Midwest, and a Funded Investigator at the BiOrbic, a national research centre in Bioeconomy. She also serves as a proposal evaluator for the Polish National Science Centre. Dr Chen leads a research team of 5 PhD candidates and 3 postdoctoral researchers, with a principal focus on biopolymer synthesis, processing, modification, biodegradation and recycling. She has a strong track record in attracting competitive research funding from Enterprise Ireland, Science Foundation Ireland, Irish Research Council, European Space Agency (ESA), the Department of Agriculture, Food and the Marine (DAFM) and European Commission. She is currently coordinating a Horizon Europe project MAGICBIOMAT in programmed biodegradability of biopolymers, and an EIC pathfinder project Bio2PEs in synthesizing bio-based and biodegradable polyester and polyethylene from agricultural and food waste.
PhD
Over the past five years, my research has focused on advancing the design, processing, and circularity of bio-based polymers, with an emphasis on real-world impact and industrial scalability. I currently coordinate two Horizon Europe projects: Bio2PEs (€4M), which develops biodegradable polyethylene and polyesters from agri-food waste to replace fossil-based plastics, and MAGICBIOMAT (€3.8M), which leverages AI to predict and control biodegradability of bio-based materials, contributing to EU-level Safe and Sustainable by Design (SSbD) policy frameworks. I am a co-inventor of a patented technology for PET depolymerisation via reactive extrusion (US-2025- 0115733-A1), which enables high-throughput recovery of monomers from postconsumer plastic waste—an important step toward scalable closed-loop recycling. My research has led to over 25 peer-reviewed publications in high-impact journals