EPA H2020 SC5 Info Day Book of Abstracts

EPA 2016 National Information Day on
Horizon 2020 Societal Challenge 5
Friday 7th
October 2016
Croke Park Conference Centre, Dublin 3
Book of Abstracts
Prepared by Alice Wemaere & Áine Murphy

Programme in Brief
When? What? Where?
9am – 9.30am Registration & Tea / Coffee Hogan Mezzanine Foyer
9.30am – 11.10am Session-1: Horizon 2020 & Societal
Challenge 5
Hogan Mezzanine Room II
10.50am – 11.30am Networking & Tea / Coffee Hogan Mezzanine Foyer
11.30am – 12.45pm Session-2: Participating in Horizon
2020
12.45pm – 2.15pm Networking Lunch Hogan Mezzanine Foyer
2.15pm – 4pm Session-3: Forward-Looking
Consultation - Towards
WP 2018-2020
Session-3a: Climate Action Hogan Mezzanine Room II
Session-3b: Water Hogan Mezzanine Room I
Session-3c: Raw Materials & Circular
Economy
Nally Suite
Session-3d: Biodiversity & Nature-
Based Solutions
Davin Suite
4pm – 4.15pm Networking & Tea / Coffee Hogan Mezzanine Foyer
4.15pm – 4.30pm Session-4: Feedback from Parallel
Sessions & Support

Table of Contents
Programme ................................................................................................................................1
Posters .......................................................................................................................................4
Stands.........................................................................................................................................6
Short Biographies of Speakers...................................................................................................7
Short Biographies of Chairs & Panellists..................................................................................12
Abstracts – Speakers................................................................................................................17
Abstracts – Posters ..................................................................................................................25
Abstracts – Stands....................................................................................................................32
Online Catalogue of Irish Expertise in......................................................................................42
Environmental Research..........................................................................................................42
DROPLET: Learn more about Water Research in Ireland ........................................................43
Registration List .......................................................................................................................34
Notes........................................................................................................................................40

Horizon 2020 Societal Challenge 5 1
EPA 2016 Annual Horizon 2020 Societal Challenge 5
Information Day
Programme
9am – 9.30am: Registration
Tea/Coffee - Hogan Mezzanine Foyer
9.30am: Welcome & Opening
Laura Burke (DG Environmental Protection Agency)
Session-1: Horizon 2020 & Societal Challenge 5
Chair: Eamonn Cahill (Department of Jobs, Enterprise and Innovation) - Hogan Mezzanine II
9.40am: Climate Action, Environment, Resource Efficiency and Raw Materials
Laura Burke (Chair of the Horizon 2020 SC5 Advisory Group)
10.00am: What does the Paris Agreement mean for climate change research?
Frank McGovern (Environmental Protection Agency)
10.20am: UN Sustainable Development Goals
Federico Properzi (UN-Water)
Questions & Answers
10.50am – 11.30am: Networking
Tea/Coffee - Hogan Mezzanine Foyer
Session-2: Participating in Horizon 2020
Chair: Imelda Lambkin (Enterprise Ireland) - Hogan Mezzanine II
11.30am: Horizon 2020 Societal Challenge 5: 'Climate action, environment, resource
efficiency and raw materials', Upcoming 2017 Calls
Alison Imrie (European Commission, DG Research)
12pm: Social Sciences and Humanities across the SC5 WP 2017
Peter Brown (SC6 National Delegate, Irish Research Council)
12.15pm: Irish Successes – Experiences - Tips for Applicants
SCENT Project
Eddie Shaw (CARR Communication)
Reflections on Coordinating a Successful H2020 Application:
Shoulda’, Coulda’, Woulda’
Kevin McGuigan (Royal College of Surgeons in Ireland)
Questions & Answers

12.45pm - 2.15pm: Networking Lunch
Hogan Mezzanine Foyer
Session-3: Forward-Looking Consultation - Towards WP 2018-2020
Parallel Session 3a: Climate Action
Chair: John O’Neill (Department of Communications, Climate Action and Environment) - Hogan
Mezzanine II
2.15pm: CARISMA: Involving stakeholders to ask the right questions in climate
change mitigation
Heleen de Coninck (Radboud University Nijmegen, NL)
2.35pm: Developing the role of JPI Climate in addressing knowledge needs
Frank McGovern (Governing Board member of the JPI Climate, EPA)
Questions & Answers
2.55pm: Group Panel Discussion: Key Research, Development & Innovation Gaps for
Climate Action – 2018-2020
Panel includes: Allen White (University College Cork); Frank McGovern (Environmental Protection
Agency); Heleen de Coninck (Radboud University Nijmegen, NL); Barry O’Dwyer
(University College Cork)
Parallel Session 3b: Water
Chair: Matt Crowe (Environmental Protection Agency) - Hogan Mezzanine I
2.15pm: CENTAUR – An innovation action on urban flooding
Will Shepherd (Sheffield University, UK)
2.35pm: Water JPI: Achieving sustainable water systems for a sustainable economy
in Europe and abroad
Maurice Héral (Agence Nationale de la Recherche, FR)
Questions & Answers
Water – 2018-2020
Panel includes: Brendan Flynn (National University of Ireland, Galway), Federico Properzi (UN-
Water), Will Shepherd (Sheffield University, UK), Maurice Héral (Agence Nationale
de la Recherche, FR), Ken Stockil (Central Solutions – European Water Partnership)

Parallel Session-3c: Raw Materials & Circular Economy
Chair: Jonathan Derham (Environmental Protection Agency) - Davin Suite
2.15pm: MINATURA 2020: Developing a concept for a European minerals deposit
framework
Blažena Hamadová (Minpol, SK)
2.35pm: Raw Materials – Policy Perspective
Patrice Millet (European Commission, DG GROWTH)
Questions & Answers
Raw Materials & Circular Economy – 2018-2020
Panel includes: John Walsh (Irish Centre for Research in Applied Geosciences: iCRAG); Patrice Millet
(European Commission, DG GROWTH), Blažena Hamadová (Minpol, SK), Lisa
O’Donoghue (University of Limerick), Sean Finlay (Geological Survey of Ireland),
Gerry Stanley (Geological Survey of Ireland)
Parallel Session-3d: Biodiversity & Nature-Based Solutions
Chair: Fiona Grant (Marine Institute) - Nally Suite
2.15pm: Urban transitioning with nature-based solutions: innovations and
opportunities
Marcus Collier (University College Dublin)
2.35pm: BiodivERsA: Cooperation and shared strategies for biodiversity and nature-
based solutions in Europe
Frédéric Lemaitre (French Foundation for Research on Biodiversity, FR)
Questions & Answers
Biodiversity & Nature-Based Solutions – 2018-2020
Panel includes: Alan Gilmer (Dublin Institute of Technology), Frédéric Lemaitre (French Foundation
for Research on Biodiversity, FR); Marcus Collier (University College Dublin), Liam
McCarton / Sean O’Hogain (Dublin Institute of Technology – NatureWAT Action
Group European Innovation Partnership on Water)
4pm – 4.15pm: Networking Tea/Coffee - Hogan Mezzanine Foyer
Session-4: Feedback from Parallel Sessions & Support
Chair: Brian Donlon (Environmental Protection Agency) - Hogan Mezzanine II
4.15pm: Short Feedback from the Parallel Sessions
4.30pm: Feedback on Support Provided – Have your Say!
Brian Donlon (Environmental Protection Agency)
Close of Information Day

Posters
Title Name Organisation
Poster 1 Mapping of EU Research Capacity:
Novel In-situ Observation Systems
Aoife Moloney Cork Institute of
Technology
European regional modelling and
climate prediction system
Xavier
Dubuisson
XD Consulting
Raw Materials Innovation Actions
Xavier
Dubuisson
XD Consulting
Poster 4 Horizon 2020 SC5 Project:
iSCAPE - Improving the Smart Control
of Air Pollution in Europe
Francesco Pilla University College
Dublin
SaltGae: Proving the techno-economic
feasibility of using algae to treat saline
wastewater from the food industry
Yan Delaure Dublin City University
SCENT - Smart Toolbox for Engaging
Citizens into a People-Centric
Observation Web
Eddie Shaw Carr Communication
AgroCycle - Sustainable techno-
economic solutions for the
agricultural value chain
Eoin White University College
Dublin
Poster 8 Water JPI Project:
PROGNOS - Predicting in-lake
responses to change using near real
time models
Eleanor
Jennings &
Tadhg Moore
Dundalk Institute of
Technology
STaRE - Characterization of antibiotic
resistant bacteria and detection of
multi-drug resistance plasmids in
wastewater treatment plant effluent
in Ireland
Fiona Walsh &
Thi Thuy Do
Maynooth University
TRACE: Tracking and assessing the
Risk from Antibiotic resistant genes
using Chip technology in surface
water Ecosystems
Eithne
O’Flaherty &
Enda Cummins
University College
Dublin
Poster 11 GO GREEN EX: Who DARES Wins COST
Action Proposal
Tadhg
MacIntyre &
Aoife A.
Donnelly
University of Limerick

Poster 12 River Channelization and Modification
– The Subsequent Effects on
Macroinvertebrate Assemblages Due
To in-Stream Habitat Alteration
Barry Walls Ulster University
Poster 13 Software tools to characterise and
benchmark the resource efficiency of
Wastewater Treatment Plants
Lorna
Fitzsimons
Dublin City University
Poster 14 Microplastic pollution in Ireland:
Current knowledge and future
perspectives
Anne Marie
Mahon
Galway-Mayo
Institute of
Technology

Stands
Stand 1 Water Joint Programming Initiative Padraic Larkin &
Maurice Héral
Water JPI
Stand 2 SPIRE: Sustainable Process Industry through
Resource and Energy Efficiency
Lionel Platteuw EUnited
Stand 3 Netherlands Enterprise Agency (RVO.nl) – the
Dutch NCP for Horizon 2020
John Heynen Netherlands
Enterprise Agency
Stand 4 LIFE – the EU Environment and Climate Action
Funding programme
Pat Martin DCCAE1
Stand 5 iCRAG - Irish Centre for Research in Applied
Geosciences
Fergus McAuliffe University College
Dublin
Stand 6 COST - “European Cooperation in Science and
Technology”
Rita Ward Enterprise Ireland
Stand 7 Horizon 2020 MSCA & EURAXESS Jennifer Brennan Irish Universities
Association
Stand 8 InterTradeIreland – Supporting North South
Collaboration in Horizon 2020
Carrie Small Inter Trade Ireland
Stand 9 Support Team for the Atlantic Action Plan Joanne Laffey &
Fiona Grant
Marine Institute
Stand 10 CyberColloids Sarah Hatchkiss &
Ross Campbell
CyberColloids Ltd.
Stand 11 Geological Survey of Ireland Aoife Braiden Geological Survey of
Ireland
Stand 12 The Nimbus Centre, Cork Institute of
Technology
Aoife Moloney Cork Institute of
Technology
Stand 13 T.E. Laboratories R & D Activities Sandra Lacey T.E. Laboratories
Stand 14 SiteSpy - Mesh Network of Autonomous air
quality sensors on existing network
infrastructure
Albert Baker Trinity College Dublin
Connect Centre
Stand 15 Bord na Móna Helen Behan Bord na Móna
Stand 16 DCU Water Institute Jane Wall & Olga
Ormond
Stand 17 Research & Enterprise Hubs Olga Zlydareva &
Karina Carey
Stand 18 AquaTT Cliona Ní
Cheallacháin
AquaTT
Stand 19 EPA Research – Horizon 2020 SC5 NCP EPA Research Team Environmental
Protection Agency
Stand 20 Horizon 2020: Societal Challenge 2 & the Bio-
based Industries Joint Undertaking
Patrick Barrett &
Liam Finnegan
Department of
Agriculture, Food and
the Marine
1
Department of Communications, Climate Action and Environment

Short Biographies of Speakers
Laura Burke
Laura Burke is Director General of the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), appointed in 2011.
Laura is the Chair of the EU Horizon 2020 Advisory Group for Societal Challenge 5 (Climate Action,
Environment, Resource Efficiency and Raw Materials) and a member of the Management Board for
the European Environment Agency. Prior to joining the EPA, she worked in the private sector. Laura
is a Chemical Engineering graduate from University College Dublin, holds an MSc from Trinity College
Dublin and is a Chartered Director. In 2016 Laura was awarded the UCD 2016 EGA Distinguished
Graduate Award.
Frank McGovern
Dr Frank McGovern has a Ph.D. in atmospheric physics from the National University of Ireland
Galway and has significant research experience in the areas of climate change and air pollution. He
joined the EPA in 2000 and leads on development of Climate Change Research and the work of
Climate Change Advisory Council secretariat. He is a regular delegate to the Intergovernmental Panel
on Climate Change (IPCC) and meetings of the UN Framework Convention on Climate Change
(UNFCCC).
Federico Properzi
Federico is the Chief Technical Adviser of UN-Water. During 2007-2011, Federico has been the first
manager of the UN-Water Global Analysis and Assessment of Sanitation and Drinking-Water (GLAAS)
at the WHO headquarters in Geneva. Previously, he has been working for a number of years for
WHO and for UNICEF on water, sanitation and hygiene projects such as guinea worm eradication,
child-friendly schools and drinking-water quality monitoring. Federico holds a Master in
Environmental Engineering and a Master in Management of Public Health Utilities.
Alison Imrie
Alison Imrie has worked for the European Institutions in Brussels for twenty years. She moved to the
European Commission's Directorate General for Research and Innovation in January 2012 after many
years working in other departments on industrial policy, the competitiveness of the textile sector,
and SME (small and medium-sized enterprises) policy. She is currently Work Programme coordinator
for Horizon 2020's Societal Challenge 5 'Climate action, environment, resource efficiency and raw
materials' in the Directorate for Climate action and resource efficiency. In this role her main
responsibilities involve coordinating the process resulting in Horizon 2020's multiannual Work
Programmes for Societal Challenge 5, including dialogues on strategy and drafting details with
Member States, external research and innovation stakeholders, and other European Commission
services. She also coordinates the Commission's monitoring of expenditure targets for climate action
and sustainable development objectives across the whole of Horizon 2020.
Peter Brown
Peter Brown joined the Council as Deputy Director in early 2015. He is the H2020 Irish National
Delegate for Societal Challenge 6 ‘Europe in a changing world: inclusive, innovative and reflective
societies’. He is the coordinator for CAROLINE, the Council’s new Fellowship programme, co-funded
under H2020 MSCA Actions, and was the lead applicant responsible for the development and
submission of the proposal. Peter also leads the Council’s participation as a partner in the current

GENDER-NET project, funded under FP7. As Deputy Director, Peter has wide-ranging responsibilities
in relation to the management and development of Council programmes and underpinning policies.
In carrying out this role he works closely with the Director and members of Council, the Department
of Education and Skills and a diverse range of other stakeholders across State, enterprise and civic
society entities. He also works closely with the aforementioned on the implementation of
Innovation2020, the National Skills Strategy and other elements of the Research and Innovation
policy framework. Peter is a member of the cross-Departmental Implementation Group for
Horizon2020. Prior to his current post he held a number of different positions in the Higher
Education Authority (HEA) going back to 2003. Peter holds a primary and Master’s degree from
University College Dublin.
Eddie Shaw
Eddie Shaw is Director of Public Relations in Carr Communications. He has over forty years’ business
experience, gained primarily in the financial services, communications and public sectors. Since he
joined Carr Communications, Eddie has provided communication, dissemination, training and
development services to a number of public and private sector organisations. He currently provides
strategic advice and counsel to clients on internal and external dissemination strategies and crisis
communications. He has an in-depth understanding of the relationship between evidence based
data and research, policy development and operational success. Eddie is a member of the Steering
Group of a number of EU-funded projects and he has been the Work Package leader for
Dissemination and Exploitation on many of these projects. Eddie has an MBA from University College
Dublin and is an Associate of the Chartered Insurance Institute.
Kevin McGuigan
Kevin McGuigan is an Associate Professor of Physics at the RCSI and the director of the RCSI Solar
Disinfection Research Group which develops appropriate and sustainable technological interventions
against waterborne disease for use in low-income countries. He specializes in coordinating and
running multi-disciplinary field studies to evaluate solar-based water treatment technologies and has
completed health impact studies in Uganda, Kenya, Zimbabwe, S. Africa and Cambodia. He currently
coordinates the €3.6M budget EU H2020 WATERSPOUTT Research Innovation Action consisting of 18
partner organisations, 11 countries, 2 continents and 3 SMEs. He is a Fellow of the Institute of
Physics (FInstP), a Fellow of the Royal Society of Chemistry (FRSC) and has supervised to completion
8 PhD and 3 MSc projects. He has published over 60 refereed articles in peer-reviewed international
journals. In parallel to his research activities, he teaches Medical Physics on the Medicine, Pharmacy
and Physiotherapy programs and is also an Adjunct Professor of Medical Physics with the School of
Physical Sciences in Dublin City University. His research on solar water disinfection in the developing
world has featured on stage (TEDxDublin 2014), screen (RTE TV Science Squad, EuroNews Futuris)
and elsewhere (radio, internet).
Heleen de Coninck
Heleen de Coninck is associate professor in innovation studies at the Environmental Science
department at Radboud University’s Faculty of Science. Before joining Radboud University in 2012,
she worked for over ten years at the unit Policy Studies of the Energy research Centre of the
Netherlands (ECN). Her main field of work is climate change mitigation and policy analysis, in
particular at the international level. Heleen has conducted research and consultancy for among
others the European Commission, UNFCCC, UNIDO, UNEP, the World Bank and various governments
and private sector actors. From 2002-2005, she was part of the Technical Support Unit of the IPCC
Working Group III, where she coordinated the Special Report on Carbon dioxide Capture and

Storage. From 2008 to 2012, she managed a group of researchers focussing on international climate
policy, energy and development, and technology transfer, and acted as programme manager for ECN
Policy Studies. She has worked in the European Union, the United States, China, Indonesia, India,
South Africa, Botswana, Ghana, Mozambique and Brazil, amongst other countries. Currently, Heleen
is also the chair of Climate Strategies, a climate policy research network that aims to improve the
linkage between climate policy research and the negotiations at the European and UN level. Heleen
graduated in Chemistry and in Environmental Science, specialisation climate change and
atmospheric chemistry, from Radboud University. After her studies, she worked as atmospheric
chemistry researcher at the Max Planck Institute for Chemistry. In 2009, she finished a PhD on
technology in the international climate regime at the VU University Amsterdam in collaboration with
Princeton University in the United States and ECN.
Will Shepherd
Will has an undergraduate degree in Civil Engineering and in 2002 completed a PhD investigating
performance of combined sewer overflow structures. Since 2003 he has worked as a researcher with
the Pennine Water Group at the University of Sheffield. Will’s research interests predominantly
surround urban drainage systems with most of his research focussing on sewer asset performance,
urban flooding and the water quality impacts of urban drainage systems. This work has involved field
and laboratory monitoring studies as well as application of GIS tools, hydro-dynamic modelling and
development of artificial intelligence techniques. Currently he works on various aspects of the
‘CENTAUR’ project which he is presenting on at this event, Will also project manages the ‘QUICS’
Initial Training Network which involves 9 partners across the EU. In QUICS 12 PhD fellows and 4 Post-
Docs are assessing the uncertainty of integrated catchment model water quality predictions and
providing guidance and tools for practitioners. Recently completed projects include ‘Cloud to Coast’
which developed modelling techniques to predict the exposure to and the health impact assessment
of pathogen risks in near-shore coastal waters and ‘CSO Analytics’ which applied Artificial
Intelligence techniques to continuous water level and rainfall data to better understand the
performance of combined sewer overflows in near real time.
Maurice Héral
Maurice Héral is Department Officer at ANR, in charge of the “Environment, Ecosystems, and
Biological Resources” department since 2011. He was previously scientific director at IFREMER. He
created the network EFARO - European Fisheries and Aquaculture Research Organisation and was
member or chair of ICES committees, vice-president (2003-2006) where he promotes international
marine research. He coordinated several EU contracts (including the ERA-NET Marinera) and was
active in Marifish as Work Package leader on common programme. He is very active at the EU level
in the ERA-NETs representing the ANR in BiodivERsA, ARIMNET2, ERANETMED, COFASP, SEAS-ERA,
WaterWorks2015 and France in JPIs FACCE, Oceans and Water. Within the Water JPI, he is the Chair
of the Governing Board and Management Board.
Blažena Hamadova
Blažena Hamadová attends the Faculty of Mining and Geology on VŠB - Technical University in
Ostrava, Czech Republic. She holds a Bachelor degree in Geological engineering (cum laude), she is
currently finishing an MSc degree at the Institute of Geological engineering and preparing for PhD
study. In her previous study she has concentrated on geological aspects of methane emanation in
Moravian-Silesian region as a consequence of closure of coal mines in 90´s in Czech Republic.
Currently Blažena acts as a research assistant of MinPol, Agency for International Minerals Policy. In
the last few months she has been involved in projects from the HORIZON 2020 programme of

European Commission which MinPol deals with, such as MINATURA 2020 (protection of Mineral
Deposits of Public Importance) and MINLEX – Study on the legal framework for mineral extraction
and permitting procedures for exploration and exploitation in the EU. Her research area is focused
on mineral policy, mining legislative, securing the access to mineral deposits based on land-use
planning, sustainable minerals supply, etc. Blažena has worked on Aggregates market analysis of
selected countries of Europe for Czech Mineral Yearbook - 2015. Currently is representing MinPol on
several international events:
 European Mining Business Forum (Sept, 2016) in Sofia - Speaker of the 3rd Panel: Horizon
2020. Opportunities. European Innovation Partnership – presentation of MINLEX project;
 MINLEX Validation Workshop (Sept, 2016) in Brussels – Minpol internal organizational team
member;
 MINATURA 2020 Consortium meeting (Nov, 2016).
Patrice Millet
Patrice Millet is currently Policy Officer in the Unit for Resource Efficiency and Raw Materials at the
European Commission’s Directorate General for Internal Market, Industry, Entrepreneurship and
SMEs, known as DG GROWTH, where he is in charge of implementation and the monitoring and
evaluation of the European Innovation Partnership on Raw Materials and of the relevant part of
Horizon 2020. Previously, he worked as Programme Officer at DG RTD where he was in charge of the
coordination of the Public-Private-Partnership on Energy-Efficient Buildings and projects in the field
of materials for energy applications. Mr Millet has a PhD degree in mineralogy and materials science
obtained at the University Paul Sabatier, Toulouse, in 1990. He is author of around 85 publications in
scientific journals and three patents and has worked both in Industry and in academia.
Marcus Collier
Marcus is a sustainability scientist. His research covers a wide range of human-environment
interconnectivity, environmental risk and resilience, transdisciplinary methodologies and novel
ecosystems. Over the years he has carried out research in social-ecological interactions in industrial
peatlands and field boundary evaluation and grading. He has also examined the biodiversity impact
implications of GM crops and conifer afforestation in the Irish landscape. Marcus is the principal
investigator of the TURAS FP7 project, which has devised novel and future-oriented transition
solutions for building urban resilience. Marcus is also a work package leader on another FP7 project,
OPERAs, leading a research team devising methods for valuing cultural ecosystem services. He is a
panel evaluator for the European Research Council consolidator grants, as well as Horizon 2020 (SCC,
SC5 and SC6) and Marie Skłodowska-Curie.
Frédéric Lemaitre
Frédéric Lemaitre is in charge of science-society and science-policy interfacing in the BiodivERsA3
ERA-Net since February 2015 at the French Foundation for Research on Biodiversity. In 2009-2010 he
was the coordination and management assistant during the first phase of the project and then
became executive manager of the Secretariat in the second phase of BiodivERsA between 2010 and
2014. He graduated in European business of the Reims Management School (France) and Dublin City
University (Ireland). With an interest for the decoupling of economic development and
environmental degradation, he obtained an MSc in environment and development at the London
School of Economics and Political Science (United Kingdom).

Brian Donlon
Dr. Brian Donlon is research manager with the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) and is based
in the EPA Cork office. Brian has a BSc in Biotechnology (DCU), PhD in Microbiology (NUIG). He
worked for 2 years in Wageningen, Netherlands researching and developing methods for the
biological treatment (anaerobic, aerobic) of textile and chemical industry wastewaters. He also
worked for NUIG as a PhD student and Post-Doc researcher on treatment of industrial (distillery and
pharmaceutical) and agricultural wastewaters primarily using anaerobic treatment methods. He
joined the EPA in February 1996 and worked in Waste and IPC licensing and enforcement until
February 2005. Since March 2005, he has been research manager of the EPA Research programme.
Brian is the National Delegate for the European Commission’s Horizon 2020 Societal Challenge 5
(Climate Action).

Short Biographies of Chairs & Panellists
Eamonn Cahill
Dr Eamonn Cahill is an Assistant Principal in the Innovation, Research and Development Policy unit of
the Department of Jobs, Enterprise and Innovation. One of his key responsibilities is to work with the
High Level Group on Horizon 2020, and the National Support Network, to coordinate and implement
Ireland’s national strategy for participation in Horizon 2020. He joined the Department in 2014 from
Forfás, where he was a Senior Policy Advisor. Prior to joining Forfás in 2003, he worked in research in
the private sector.
Imelda Lambkin
Dr Imelda Lambkin is the National Director for Horizon 2020 at Enterprise Ireland. As the National
Director for Horizon 2020, Dr Lambkin ensures that a co-ordinated and coherent approach is
adopted across all of the components of Horizon 2020 so that Irish participation in the programme
as a whole is optimised. She is the National Programme Coordinator for Eureka and National Contact
Point for the Joint Research Centre. Dr Lambkin coordinates the Horizon 2020 NCP Academy project,
providing training and best practice for National Contact Points across Europe, and she is a member
of the ERA-LEARN 2020 project, focussed on trans-national coordination of research programmes in
Public-Public Programmes including ERA-NET Co-Fund and Joint Programming Initiatives. Dr Lambkin
manages the Research & Innovation Internationalisation Department at Enterprise Ireland.
John O’Neill
John is currently Principal Officer for Climate Policy within the Department of Communications,
Climate Action and Environment having previously worked within both Local Government and
Housing policy. John’s current role within Climate Policy covers extensive climate policy areas that
span National, EU and International agendas. These include implementation of the Climate Action
and Low Carbon Development Act 2015, the EU 2030 Climate & Energy Framework and next steps
on implementing the Paris Agreement. John previously worked within the Environment Advisory
Unit of the Department where he provided specialist technical support and input on the formulation,
development, implementation and management of National, EU, and International Environmental
policy, strategy and legislation. Before joining the Department John spent over 10 years working in
the private sector for various consultancies, where he held senior management and supervisory
positions on a broad range of projects.
Allen White
Allen White is currently Research Officer for the College of Arts, Celtic Studies and Social Sciences,
University College Cork. This role involves assisting researchers develop plans and applications to
various calls in Horizon 2020. As part of this role Allen has worked with National Delegates and
National Contact Points to develop channels of communication between SSH researchers and the
national research support infrastructures. A key element in this work has been Allen’s central
involvement in consultations about and feedback on the content of the 2016-17 SC6 (and the other
Societal Challenges) Work Programmes. This work involved both the Irish Humanities Alliance (IHA)
and the Irish Social Sciences Platform (ISSP). Allen is currently one of the Irish Management
Committee members of the COST Action TD1408 Interdisciplinarity in research programming and
funding cycles (INTREPID). Allen has worked as postdoctoral researcher and national co-ordinator of
the TCRAf-Eu Transnational Childcare project (2010-2012), involving researchers in the Netherlands
(P.I. Valentina Mazzucato), Portugal, Norway, Ireland, Nigeria and Angola funded by a 1.5 million
euro grant from NORFACE Transnational Programme on Migration. Allen played a central role

developing and co-ordinating the Irish input into this funding bid. Prior to this (2006-2009) Allen was
a postdoctoral fellow on Marie Curie Excellence Grant Project (Title: Migrant Children, funded by
Marie Curie Excellence Grant MEXT-CT-2004-014204). Prior to coming to Cork, Allen worked as a
full-time member of lecturing staff in Nottingham Trent University (2001-2006) and the University of
Wales in Lampeter (1998-2001).
Barry O’Dwyer
Barry O’Dwyer is a senior postdoctoral researcher in the Centre for Marine and Renewable Energy
Ireland (MaREI) at University College Cork and the Lead Researcher in the area of climate change
adaptation. Barry is currently principal researcher on a number of national projects (EPA Funded) –
‘Climate Information Platform for Ireland’ and ‘UrbADAPT’. This research focuses on supporting
decision-making for climate adaptation in Ireland and involves the development of supports to
facilitate decision-making for adaptation to the ongoing and anticipated impacts of climate change.
Understanding user needs and translating available scientific information to satisfy these
requirements forms a key part of Barry’s research. In addition, Barry is involved in a number of
European projects (H2020 and ESA funded) which aim to support the efforts of the EU to protect
aquatic biodiversity and also to support the employment of Earth Observation data in planning for
ongoing and future climate changes.
Matt Crowe
Dr. Crowe is currently Director of the Environmental Protection Agency’s Office of Evidence and
Assessment which includes the EPA’s programmes for water management, environmental research,
environmental informatics, climate science, strategic environmental assessment, state of the
environment assessment and reporting and liaison with the European Environment Agency. He holds
a B.Sc. and Ph.D. in biochemistry from University College, Dublin and has worked with the Irish EPA
since 1995. He was appointed to the Board of the EPA in 2010 and from 2010 to 2012 he served as
the Director of the Environmental Protection Agency’s Office of Communications and Corporate
Services with responsibility for communications, human resources, finance, corporate governance,
organisational training and development, buildings, IT and strategic planning. He served as the EPA’s
Head of Internal Audit between 2007 and 2010 as well as running the EPA’s communications,
strategy and corporate governance programmes. He was instrumental in the establishment of an
Office of Environmental Enforcement in the EPA in 2003 and chaired the National Environmental
Enforcement Network from 2004 to 2007. His main scientific areas of interest are water protection
and management and waste management and he has run programmes and projects in these and
other areas during his tenure at the EPA. Prior to joining the EPA he worked in Vancouver, Canada,
for five years, conducting contract research in applied environmental sciences.
Brendan Flynn
Brendan Flynn has been a lecturer within the School of Political Science & Sociology, NUIG, since
1998. He has studied at the University of Essex for his Masters and PhD degrees, the latter on:
"Subsidiarity and the Evolution of EU environmental policy". He teaches on European politics and
marine policy, while his research is focused on environmental policy, marine renewables and
maritime security. He is the author of "The Blame Game: Rethinking Ireland's Sustainable
Development and Environmental Performance" (Dublin: Irish Academic Press, 2007) and a co-author
of "Environmental Governance in Europe: An Ever Closer Ecological Union?” (Oxford: OUP, 2000).
Recent publications Flynn, Brendan (2016) 'Marine wind energy and the North Sea Offshore Grid
Initiative: a Multi-Level Perspective on a stalled technology transition?', Energy Research & Social
Science (2016), pp. 36-51. DOI information: 10.1016/j.erss.2016.08.009. His current research project

is the Irish EPA supported EPIIC: Environmental Policy Integration - Innovation and Change. See:
http://www.epa.ie/newsandevents/news/name,60120,en.html
Ken Stockil
Ken Stockil is an engineering (BEng) and business graduate (MBA) with extensive experience of R&D
management, innovation, strategy development and new product development. During the initial
part of his career, Ken worked in various R&D and application development roles within both large
and small companies including Analog Devices, AT&T, Lucent Technologies and Schaffner Intepro.
Later Ken worked with Shannon Development, spending several years as an advisor to high growth
technology-based companies. Ken is currently a director with Central Solutions Ltd, an Irish firm
specialising in sustainability programmes, online learning and water management solutions which
leverage international standards, lean methods and smart analytics. Ken chairs the EPA-supported
Large Water Users Community of Practice (www.leanwater.ie) which comprises of major private and
public sector water users across Ireland. Ken is a current member of the European Water
Stewardship Standard Development Committee. In 2015, he authored the EPA Research Small-Scale
Study on Water Stewardship in Ireland.
Jonathan Derham
Dr Jonathan Derham, Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) is a NUI sciences graduate with a
Master’s Degree in Public Service Management. Jonathan has worked for over 26 years in the
environmental field for public and private sector employers in Ireland, UK and EU, and has broad
experience of environmental policy and regulation. He currently heads up the Evidence &
Assessment Programme in EPA. His interests include Sustainable Consumption & Production,
Behavioural Change, Green Economy, Critical raw Materials, and the Circular Economy. He
represents Ireland on the EU Raw Materials EIP.
John Walsh
Prof. John Walsh is Director of iCRAG, the Irish Centre for Research in Applied Geosciences, and Co-
Director of the Fault Analysis Group in the School of Earth Sciences in UCD. As Director of iCRAG
John works with Ireland's leading geoscience experts on a range of issues all of which underpin
economic development - from safe and secure groundwater supplies through to the discovery of
mineral/aggregate deposits, and from the de-risking of oil and gas exploration to ensuring that the
Irish public is educated and informed on these issues. His own research specialises on all aspects of
faults and fractures, extending from fault growth and earthquake studies through to fault- and
fracture-related fluid flow, and how to use these results to solve practical problems within the
groundwater mineral and petroleum industries. John has authored more than 130 scientific papers
and has been distinguished lecturer for several geological societies and associations. In addition,
Prof. Walsh has been on the editorial board for numerous geological journals. In 2010 his research
group won the NovaUCD Innovation Award and in 2015, Prof. Walsh became the first Irish Honorary
Fellow of the Geological Society of London, the largest geological society in Europe.
Lisa O’Donoghue
Dr. O'Donoghue is a Ph.D. Scientist who has received the Young Entrepreneur of Year Award, Molex-
Kriebel Award for Innovation in Global Business & Technology and the JCI Outstanding Young Person
of the Year Award in Science and Technology in Ireland. Dr. O’Donoghue holds a first class honours
degree in Materials Science and Technology and a doctorate in High Temperature Technology in
Aero Gas Turbines Engine applications. Dr. O’Donoghue possesses the skills of strategising and

leading research in her field of expertise, materials science, metallurgy and technology
development. She is the lead inventor of the LCD recycling equipment developed while leading the
research project at the University of Limerick. She has since set up a spin out company Votechnik
and has licenced the technology to take it to the global market. In 2011, she successfully led the
company to take Best High Growth Company on the Island of Ireland at the InterTrade All Island
Seedcorn Business competition and has secured investment for the company. Votechnik has been
awarded a €1.6 million EC project to launch the technology on the European market. She has a
varied background in leading industrial focused research in multidisciplinary fields such as
automated recycling systems, abrasives technology, process optimisation of industrial electroplating
systems, development of high temperature gas turbine coating systems, and development of a
manufacturing process for shape memory alloys for biomedical stents. She has significant experience
in both working with and managing teams in the above sectors, as well as designing industrial
projects, work and task planning, budget / financial and IP management. Dr. O’Donoghue has raised
over 3 million funding over the last 5 years and has 4 patents granted and an additional 2 pending
across the manufacturing and biomedical fields.
Sean Finlay
Sean Finlay is a Professional Geologist and Chartered Engineer. He has over 40 years’ experience in
developing mining and infrastructure projects in Ireland, Africa, and the FSU, having served as a
director of a number of mining companies and as a consultant. He has contributed to over 40
Environmental Impact Statements for various mining, infrastructure, energy and waste management
developments and served as an expert witness in numerous planning and High Court hearings. Sean
has a keen interest in the public understanding of science and technology and is on the Technical
Advisory Committee for the ICRAG project. He is currently the Director of Business Development for
Geoscience Ireland, on contract with the Geological Survey of Ireland.
Gerry Stanley
Gerry has degrees in geology and mining engineering from Ireland, Canada and the UK. Gerry
worked in the minerals industry in both exploration and development. He joined the Geological
Survey of Ireland (GSI) in 1984 and worked on minerals databases and mineral regulation and now
heads up the Minerals Programme in GSI where he looks after the GSI’s minerals databases;
promotes inward investment to Ireland for minerals exploration and development; and works on
minerals related research. In the latter context Gerry is working on a number of H2020 SC5 projects
(ProSum and MICA) and has worked on FP7 funded Minerals4EU project.
Fiona Grant
Fiona Grant is the NCP for marine aspects of Societal Challenge 2 (Food Security, Sustainable
Agriculture and Forestry, Marine, Maritime and Inland Water Research and the Bioeconomy). Fiona
is responsible for International Programmes in the Marine Institute and together with colleagues,
participates in the European Marine Board and JPI Oceans. Previous roles have included the
Research Infrastructures brief in the Marine Institute. Prior to that, she was the National Protection /
Conservation Coordinator in the Central Fisheries Board (now Inland Fisheries Ireland). Her primary
degree is in Earth Sciences, with postgraduate qualifications in Marine Geology and Geophysics
awarded from NUI, Galway.

Alan Gilmer
Dr Alan Gilmer is an experienced consultant, scientist and academic who has worked in industry,
research and teaching for nearly 25 years. Dr Gilmer completed his PhD at University College Dublin
in the area of eco-hydrological modelling and terrestrial carbon cycling and has worked in the United
States, Canada, Britain and Ireland. Prior to joining the Dublin Institute of Technology he worked at
University of Guelph, Canada and University College Dublin. Dr Gilmer is currently based in the
College of Engineering & Build Environment, Dublin Institute of Technology - his research interests
include the general area of biosphere–climate interaction, landscape-ecosystem fluvial processes,
environmental management and policy, sustainable development, eco-innovation, the green
business movement, bio-resource/land-use management, landscape analysis and modelling. He has
published in the areas of sustainable land-use development, ecosystem management, sustainability
and sustainable policy and land-use carbon cycling and climate change. He is also a Principal
Investigator in the Environmental Sustainability & Health Institute and the Water Innovation
Research Centre in the Dublin Institute of Technology through which a number of PhD and Post-
Doctoral students are supervised and which operates a multidisciplinary outreach model of
collaboration and innovation with industry. Dr Gilmer’s research interests have also included the
sustainable agenda as it interfaces with energy having published on the sustainability of biofuels and
renewable energies. Other recent initiatives and interests include the integration of sustainability
modelling with socio-economic analysis and management in relation to eco-innovation across a
range of industry sectors. This represents a new approach that provides a structure and focus for the
development of capacity in environmental communication, particularly in relation to the climate
change agenda and seeks to leverage new communication tools and systems thinking in policy
development.
Liam McCarton / Sean O’Hogain
Liam McCarton is a Chartered Civil Engineer, with over 25 years’ experience in International
Development, Environmental Engineering & Project Management of water, sanitation, education &
health infrastructure projects. Liam has project managed major infrastructure projects in Ireland,
Asia and Africa. Liam leads the Development Technology Research Group within the Water
Innovation Research Centre (WIRC) at DIT (www.dit.ie/dtc). Liam is also a Director of Engineers
Without Borders – Ireland.
Dr. O’Hogain is a Scientist and has been lecturing on the Engineering degree course for 30 years,
specialising in water and wastewater analysis. Recent teaching innovations have included courses in
sustainability and climate change. Research topics have included Reed beds, design construction and
monitoring and Rainwater Harvesting, design construction and monitoring. Research projects
included TECSPAR, an EU funded collaboration between three European Institutions and three Latin
American Institutions.

Abstracts – Speakers
Session-1: Horizon 2020 & Societal Challenge 5
Climate Action, Environment, Resource Efficiency and Raw Materials
Laura Burke, Chair of the Horizon 2020 SC5 Advisory Group, Environmental Protection Agency
The mission of the Horizon 2020 Advisory Group for Societal Challenge 5 (SC5) 'Climate Action,
Environment, Resource Efficiency and Raw Materials' is to contribute to the implementation of
Horizon 2020, providing advice to the Commission services on the Societal Challenge on 'Climate
action, environment, resource efficiency and raw materials'. The advice provided will contribute to a
broader policy context: to the Europe 2020 Strategy, the Innovation Union, and to other relevant EU
policies. The 2016 report from the Advisory Group contains recommendations for the 2018-2020
Horizon 2020 Work Programme. It details the five strategic priorities that the Advisory Group has
identified as requiring action in the next SC5 Work Programme:
 Strategic Priority 1: Climate action after COP21;
 Strategic Priority 2: Circular economy;
 Strategic Priority 3: Innovative and resilient cities and rural areas;
 Strategic Priority 4: The water-food-and-energy nexus;
 Strategic Priority 5: Enabling systemic transformation.
This report, along with the report from the stakeholder consultation on SC5, a gap analysis, and
discussions with the SC5 Programme Committee, will form the basis of a scoping paper and then the
2018-2020 Work Programme.
What does the Paris Agreement mean for climate change research?
Frank McGovern, Environmental Protection Agency
The 2015 Paris Agreement signaled a new beginning for climate actions to achieve the objective of
the UNFCCC, i.e., to prevent dangerous anthropogenic interference with the Earth’s climate system.
It provided definition of what that means via its key goals i.e.
 To hold the global temperature increase well below 2°C above pre-industrial levels and
pursue efforts to limit temperature increase to 1.5°C above pre-industrial levels;
 To enhance adaptive capacity, strengthen resilience and foster climate resilient and low
emission development; and
 To make finance flows consistent with a pathway towards low greenhouse gas emissions
and climate resilience development.
It also provided an outline pathway for GHG emissions to ‘peak global greenhouse gas emissions as
soon as possible’ and ‘to undertake rapid reductions thereafter in accordance with best available
science, so as to achieve a balance between anthropogenic emissions by sources and removals by
sinks of greenhouse gases during this century. It also established an adaptation goal, recognised the
importance of loss and damage and highlighted the needs for “transparency”. However, the Paris
Agreement has to be seen in combination with the IPCC 5th
Assessment Report and consideration of
the adequacy of the 2°C temperature goal in-order to understand what the priority research topics
are following Paris.

UN Sustainable Development Goals
Federico Properzi, UN-Water
In September 2015 in New York at the United Nations General Assembly heads of state adopted the
2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development, including a set of 17 Sustainable Development Goals
(SDGs). These Goals represent a major step forward with respect to the previous Millennium
Development Goals (2000-2015) and will define the global policy framework until 2030. This
presentation will provide a broad overview of the SDGs as well as a brief illustration of the
implementation of the water and sanitation SDG.
Session-2: Participating in Horizon 2020
Horizon 2020 Societal Challenge 5: 'Climate action, environment, resource efficiency and
raw materials', Upcoming 2017 Calls
Alison Imrie, European Commission, DG Research
Alison Imrie will present the research and innovation funding opportunities for 2017 offered by the
'Climate action, environment, resource efficiency and raw materials' (Societal Challenge 5) part of
the European Commission's Horizon 2020 Programme for 2016-2017. The overall objective of this
part of the funding programme is to help achieve a resource – and water – efficient and climate
change resilient economy and society, the protection and sustainable management of natural
resources and ecosystems, and a sustainable supply and use of raw materials, in order to meet the
needs of a growing global population within the sustainable limits of the planet's natural resources
and eco-systems. The calls in the 2016-2017 multiannual Work Programme prioritise actions which
take a systemic approach to promoting a more resource efficient, greener and more competitive
economy, particularly those which will evidence Europe's potential for systemic innovation and
market uptake of technological and non-technological solutions through large-scale demonstration
projects. The presentation will focus on opportunities relating to climate action, environment,
resource efficiency and raw materials in the 2017 Work Programme for Societal Challenge 5 and
relevant cross-cutting calls, including 'Greening the economy', 'Industry 2020 in the Circular
Economy' and 'Smart and Sustainable Cities'.
Social Sciences & Humanities across the SC5 WP2017
Peter Brown, SC6 National Delegate, Irish Research Council
The central objectives of Horizon 2020’s Societal Challenge 5 (SC5) ‘Climate Action, Environment,
Resource Efficiency and Raw Materials’ are to increase European competitiveness, raw materials and
societal wellbeing, while simultaneously ensuring environmental sustainability and the enabling of
society to adapt to the challenges presented by climate change and other environmental issues. The
complex and multi-faceted nature of the goals defined in SC5 represents a key funding opportunity
for scholars of Social Sciences and Humanities (SSH) to engage in large scale, cross-cutting and in
particular, inter-disciplinary research projects. This presentation will discuss the importance of inter-
disciplinary research to the growth and development of SSH within Horizon 2020, and outlines the
major research support initiatives, funding schemes and activities offered by the Irish Research

Council to SSH researchers at present. Furthermore, focusing on the themes central to the SC5 work
package such as for example, ‘Raw Materials’, ‘Earth Observation’ and ‘Cultural Heritage for
Sustainable Growth’, this discussion addresses in detail the prospects for SSH in this funding call,
providing information on each aspect of the work package, and will outline where opportunities for
cross-cutting research activities within this work package arise for researchers in the Social Sciences
and Humanities.
Irish Successes – Experiences - Tips for Applicants - The SCENT Project
Eddie Shaw, CARR Communication
Brief introduction to Carr Communications in H2020:
 Success rate 28%;
 Communication, dissemination and exploitation partner and role;
 Impact.
H2020 Calls, Proposals and Winning:
The context:
 Benjamin Franklin and Roy Keane – ‘Fail to prepare, prepare to fail’;
 H2020 - understanding and background reading;
 Understanding the Commission, policy, their requirements, the call provenance, journey
and process, the proposal, the evaluator(s) (the first audience), impact;
 Key words and phrases, cross-cutting, innovation, creativity, collaboration, cooperation,
knowledge transfer, GEOSS, COPERNICUS, definitions of communication, dissemination
and exploitation.
Enterprise Ireland, Delegates and National Contact Points:
 A gold mine of contacts and information;
 The Calls, the Impact, TRL, Research and Innovation, key words and phrases;
 The politics, reading between the lines, the competition, the players, the favourites, the
big decision – go or no go.
The Proposal:
 Like a marriage;
 Standing out from the crowd, differentiating, being different;
 Boring or riveting;
 Linking back to completed and current projects in the same space – lessons learned.
The Coordinator and the Partners
Writing the Proposal:
 Purpose, military management, time line, things will go wrong, leave edit and proofing
time;
 The first audience is/are the Evaluator(s) – implications, know and understand the task;
 Make the proposal easy to read, easier to understand, easy to search;
 Structuring the Proposal;
 Working back from Impact – what does this mean?
 Visuals, figures and grids.
The Summary – DOs and DONTs and self-destruction.
More information on the SCENT project: http://cordis.europa.eu/project/rcn/203260_en.html

Reflections on Coordinating a Successful H2020 Application: Shoulda’, Coulda’, Woulda’
Kevin McGuigan, Royal College of Surgeons in Ireland
In this brief presentation, Kevin will discuss the decisions faced by anyone coordinating a H2020
submission. He will describe the factors which influenced his choice of Call, Partners, Work Action,
Budgets, Allocations, Work-Packages, and WP Leaders. Supports which are available to researchers
hoping to participate in H2020 submissions will be discussed and he will highlight things which he
should have done differently, could have done differently and, if he had the opportunity, would have
done differently.
More information on the WATERSPOUTT project:
http://cordis.europa.eu/project/rcn/202632_en.html
Session-3: Forward-Looking Consultation - Towards WP 2018-2020
Session-3a: Climate Action
CARISMA: Involving stakeholders to ask the right questions in climate change mitigation
Heleen de Coninck, Radboud University Nijmegen, Netherlands
CARISMA is a Horizon2020 Coordination and Support Action that aims to support the development
and diffusion of options for climate change mitigation, both technologies and practices, to reduce
greenhouse gas emissions. Climate-friendly technologies and practices often already exist, yet for
several reasons do not get deployed to their full potential. Decision-makers in the public and private
sectors alike are, for a variety of reasons, inclined to continue the high-carbon status quo. This holds
for already developed technologies and practices, as well as for technologies and practices that are
untested or in the research phase. In five areas (Research & Innovation, Assessment of Technology,
Policy, Governance and International Technology transfer), CARISMA involves stakeholders by asking
them what their questions are. It then organises research information and produces deliverables
that, we hope, are better suited to serve those stakeholders. The presentation will go into a number
of questions the CARISMA project got that could help shaping the Horizon2020 Work Programme for
2018-2020.
More information on the CARISMA project: http://carisma-project.eu/
Developing the role of JPI Climate in addressing knowledge needs
Frank McGovern, Governing Board member of the JPI Climate, Environmental Protection Agency
The Joint Programming Initiative "Connecting Climate Knowledge for Europe" (JPI Climate) is a pan-
European intergovernmental initiative gathering European countries to jointly coordinate climate
research and fund new trans-national research initiatives that provide useful climate knowledge and
services for post-COP21 Paris Agreement Climate Action. JPI Climate connects scientific disciplines,
enables cross-border research and increases the science-practice interaction. JPI Climate contributes
to the overall objective of developing a European Research Area and to underpin the European
efforts in tackling the societal challenge of climate change. Key role is addressing gaps between EU
H2020 research and addressing shared research needs of the member countries. This has enabled

new approached to research as exemplified by the ERA net for climate services ERA4CS. The
objectives and activities of JPI Climate and its further development will be outlined.
More information on the Climate JPI: http://www.jpi-climate.eu/
Session-3b: Water
CENTAUR – An innovation action on urban flooding
Will Shepherd, Sheffield University, United Kingdom
The CENTAUR project aims to provide an innovative, cost effective, local autonomous sewer flow
control system to reduce urban flood risk. CENTAUR is an acronym of the full project title: Cost
Effective Neural Technique to Alleviate Urban flood Risk. One of the most widespread and significant
impacts of climate change will be increased frequency and severity of urban flooding, which has the
potential to impact the lives of thousands of citizens within the EU alone. The resources of water
utilities and local authorities are constrained by the current economic environment (less funding and
staff) and also policies such as those to reduce carbon emissions to mitigate climate change.
Traditional ‘resource intensive’ solutions to dealing with urban flooding (such as the construction of
underground detention tanks) are becoming increasingly cost prohibitive in many scenarios. In
addition, such ‘design-engineer-build’ solutions can only be designed to mitigate a specific defined
level of risk. CENTAUR is using data driven approaches to develop real time control strategies to
activate existing in sewer storage at the local scale. Sophisticated computational techniques will be
combined with specially designed flow control devices to reduce flood risk. The CENTAUR project
consortium consists of 7 partners representing 5 different countries. Two of the partners are
universities, one is a research institute, two partners manage and operate sewer networks and two
are SMEs (Small / Medium Enterprises). The presentation will give an overview of the project and
how the network of partners has come to work together.
More information on the CENTAUR project: www.sheffield.ac.uk/centaur.
Water JPI: Achieving sustainable water systems for a sustainable economy in Europe and
abroad
Maurice Héral, Agence Nationale de la Recherche, France
The Water JPI is dedicated to tackling the ambitious challenge of achieving sustainable water
systems for a sustainable economy in Europe and abroad. This will be realised through a multi-
disciplinary approach, which includes economic, ecological, societal and technological
considerations. The Water JPI provides an opportunity for broader cross-border cooperation, greater
collaboration and a more unified focus on water RDI across Europe and in the world: the European
water sector (annual turnover of 72 G€) has a wide diversity of stakeholders and is highly
fragmented; water resources, water supply and wastewater have often been locally managed. Water
crises have been identified in 2015 by the World Economic Forum as the Top 1 risk in terms of
impacts to economy and society for the upcoming years. The science-based knowledge produced in
the Water JPI will lead to the support of European and international water policies; comprising the
identification of problems, their quantification, and the development of feasible technical and
managerial solutions. The Water JPI is launching annual Joint Transnational Calls: a 2013 call on
emerging contaminants (9 M€, 7 projects funded), a 2015 call on wastewater treatment and water

reuse (15.2 M€, 16 projects funded) and a 2016 call on water and agriculture challenges (25.5M€ -
under evaluation). The Water JPI has encouraged and stimulated the opening of the JPI to several
international cooperation partner countries (5 involved in the 2016 call) to become privileged
partners in international Research and Innovation cooperation, and increasing the leverage effect
and expected impacts.
More information on the Water JPI: www.waterjpi.eu
Session-3c: Raw Materials & Circular Economy
MINATURA 2020: Developing a concept for a European minerals deposit framework
Blažena Hamadova, Minpol, SK
The exploitation of minerals in Europe is an indispensable activity to ensure that the present and
future needs of the European society can be met. This means that sufficient access is required to
explore and exploit minerals. At the same time the mineral needs of our society must be met
without compromising the ability of future generations to meet their own needs. Accordingly
exploitable mineral deposits (known deposits, abandoned mines and historical mining sites) need to
be assessed against other land uses, taking into account criteria such as habitats, other
environmental concerns, priorities for settlements, etc. Access to mineral deposits, on the other
hand, also meets public interests such as raw materials security (compared with many international
access options). The deliberation between these diverse land uses requires adequate consideration
of the exclusiveness, reversibility, and consequences on the surrounding. The MINATURA 2020 is a
tree year project (2015-2017) submitted in response to the call n° SC5-13a-2014 of European
Commission “Growing a Low Carbon, Resource Efficient Economy with a Sustainable Supply of Raw
Materials”. The overall objective of MINATURA 2020 is to develop a concept and methodology (i.e. a
harmonised European regulatory/guidance/policy framework) for the definition and subsequent
protection of “mineral deposits of public importance” in order to ensure their “best use” in the
future. Providing a policy planning framework that comprises the “sustainability principle” for
mining is the key driving force behind MINATURA.
More information on the MINATURA project: http://minatura2020.eu/
Raw Materials – Policy Perspective
Patrice Millet, European Commission DG GROWTH
As outlined in the Raw Materials Scoreboard, which was published in July 2016, the EU is confronted
with a number of challenges with regards to securing a sustainable supply of raw materials, such as
raw materials production; competitiveness and innovation; framework conditions for mining;
circular economy and recycling and environmental and social sustainability. The presentation takes
stock of the first 3 years of implementation of the EIP on Raw Materials and provides a state of play
of Horizon 2020 projects funded as a result of the first 3 calls for proposals (Work Programmes 2014,
2015 and 2016). The presentation highlights the need to pursue a robust integrated raw materials
policy framework in order to better take into account current economic, political and geopolitical
evolutions that affect the raw materials sector.

Session-3d: Biodiversity & Nature-Based Solutions
Urban transitioning with nature-based solutions: innovations and opportunities
Marcus Collier, University College Dublin
How do we begin to transition as a society? Transitioning is a unidirectional change in normative
societal behaviour which communities’ hope will lessen our collective ecological footprint, reduce
our dependence on distant resources and build closer, more sustainable urban communities. That is
the ideal, but in practice it may be considerably more difficult to mainstream sustainability,
particularly in the sort- to medium-term. Throughout Europe there are numerous examples and pilot
or demonstration projects that illustrate tools, practices, mechanisms, pathways and policies for
how transitioning can be achieved. Some look at where the pitfalls may be and how to address
them, others address how to deal with wicked and dynamic social and ecological problems in the
face of environmental and demographic change, still others seek new technologies and nature-
based innovations. This presentation draws on the experience of the TURAS FP7 project to illustrate
how nature-based solutions derived using transdisciplinary approaches may be utilised to build
resilience to enable sustainable transitioning within city-making.
More information on the TURAS project: http://www.turas-cities.org/
BiodivERsA: Cooperation and shared strategies for biodiversity and nature-based solutions
in Europe
Frédéric Lemaitre, French Foundation for Research on Biodiversity, FR
The objective of this keynote is to present the BiodivERsA network and its activities, along with the
added value for the members of the network. Created in 2005, BiodivERsA is now an ERA-Net
COFUND supported by the European Commission’s Horizon 2020 that gathers 32 national and
regional funding organisations in 21 countries to promote pan-European research on biodiversity,
ecosystem services and nature-based solutions. BiodivERsA partners collectively program research
themes and support innovative and trans-disciplinary research projects. Based on analyses of
existing research and emerging knowledge needs, BiodivERsA has developed a strategic research
and innovation agenda to guide its action. Guided by this agenda, the network allows national
agencies to jointly fund research projects on a pan-European scale. BiodivERsA has already launched
6 calls for proposals, supporting 73 European projects for a total amount exceeding 80 million euro,
raised directly by its partners and the European Commission. Finally, BiodivERsA promotes the
engagement of stakeholders all along the research process, from the co-design and implementation
of research programmes to the dissemination of project results, as well as through the involvement
of stakeholders in the design and implementation of funded projects.
More information on BiodivERsA: http://www.biodiversa.org/

Session-4: Feedback from Parallel Sessions & Support
Feedback from the Irish Research Community on Support Provided – Have your Say!
Brian Donlon, Environmental Protection Agency
The Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) is supporting Ireland’s engagement with Horizon 2020
(H2020) through its participation in the Advisory Group of Experts for SC5, as National Delegate and
National Contact Point for this Challenge, and as a member of the H2020 National Support Network
led by Enterprise Ireland. The EPA Director General, Laura Burke, is the Chairperson of the Advisory
Group of Experts under Societal Challenge 5 (Climate Action). The EPA is actively participating in
both the Water and Climate Joint Programming Initiatives (JPIs) at management level and is involved
in a number of European Innovation Partnerships on Raw Materials, Water and the JPI Oceans. This
wrap-up session aims at fostering discussion on how to improve the performance of the Irish
research community in particular in relation to the Horizon 2020 Societal Challenge 5 Programme.
During this interactive session, attendees will have the opportunity to give their feedback on the EPA
support provided to H2020 applicants.

Abstracts – Posters
Poster 1: Mapping of EU Research Capacity: Novel In-situ Observation Systems
Aoife Moloney, Cork Institute of Technology
Within Horizon 2020, Earth Observation (EO), and more specifically novel in-situ observation
systems are key research areas under Societal Challenge 5 (SC5): Climate Action, Environment,
Resource Efficiency and Raw Materials. EO research within Horizon 2020 represents an important
area of opportunity and a major funding source for Irish researchers (in Higher Education Institutes
(HEIs), Industry, and Non-Government Organisations (NGOs)). One of the key challenges for Irish
researchers wanting to participate in the Horizon 2020 SC5 specifically is to target and identify
possible relevant consortia to partner with. This EPA Small Scale Study project (2015-SE-SS- 2) is
focused on opportunities for Irish researchers for participation in the Horizon 2020 topic – ‘SC5-18-
2017: Novel in-situ observation systems’. The main aim of the study was to map research excellence
and capacity, in Ireland and at EU level, to support participation in Horizon 2020. The output of this
study will support researchers who wish to participate in consortia applying for funding under this
topic in the forthcoming 2017 call. A total of 83 relevant projects were found across the databases
searched. The breakdown of the total number of relevant projects found includes 20 Horizon 2020
projects, and 63 FP7 projects. There was evidence of Institutes/Organisations being involved in
multiple projects within this research area.
Poster 2: Mapping of EU Research Capacity: European regional modelling and climate
prediction system
Xavier Dubuisson, XD Consulting
The main research objective of this action is to develop an innovative European regional ensemble
climate prediction system based on a new generation of high-resolution climate models, covering
timescales from seasons to decades initialised with observations. The action should conduct a series
of multi-method and multi-model experiments in order to better capture uncertainties, and provide
user-centred and demand-driven information which addresses user needs at various levels.
Poster 3: Mapping of EU Research Capacity: Raw Materials Innovation Actions
Xavier Dubuisson, XD Consulting
The EU is highly dependent on raw materials that are crucial for a strong European industrial base,
an essential building block of the EU's growth and competitiveness. Securing the sustainable access
to raw materials, including metals, industrial minerals and construction raw materials, and
particularly Critical Raw Materials (CRM), for the EU economy is of high importance. The challenge
for industry is to scale up promising raw materials production technologies and to demonstrate that
raw materials can be produced in an innovative and sustainable way in order to make sure that
research and innovation end up on the market, to strengthen the competitiveness of the European
raw materials industries, to meet ambitious energy and climate 2030 targets and to gain the trust of
the EU citizens to raw materials sector.

Poster 4: Horizon 2020 SC5 Project: iSCAPE - Improving the Smart Control of Air
Pollution in Europe
Francesco Pilla, University College Dublin
The iSCAPE project aims to integrate and advance the control of air quality and carbon emissions in
European cities in the context of climate change through the development of sustainable and
passive air pollution remediation strategies, policy interventions and behavioural change initiatives.
It will tackle the problem of reducing air pollution at target receptors with an innovative approach
focusing on the use of “Passive Control Systems” in urban spaces. Improvements in air quality and
microclimate will be achieved by applying real-world physical interventions on the urban tissue to
alter ventilation rates and dispersion patterns in the selected cities assessed for future climate
change scenarios. Through the approach of Living Labs the team will deploy a network of air quality
and meteorological sensors and evaluate through analysis and a suite of up-to-date numerical
modelling the benefits expected from the interventions on a neighbourhood and city-wide scale for
several aspects ranging from quantification of pollutant concentration to exposure. iSCAPE
encapsulates the concept of “smart cities” by promoting the use of low-cost sensors, engaging
citizens in the use of alternative solution processes to environmental problems. iSCAPE will support
sustainable urban development by promoting the sharing of results with policy-makers and planners
using local test-cases, and providing scientific evidence ready-to-use solutions potentially leading to
real-time operational interventions. This integrated approach will include the development and
assessment of a framework aimed at changing the mobility behaviour of people by studying
processes and dynamics that lead to more resilient, healthy, and sustainable cities, by bringing
together theory from urban planning, public policy, urban and environmental sociology and urban
geography.
Poster 5: Horizon 2020 SC5 Project: SaltGae - Proving the techno-economic feasibility
of using algae to treat saline wastewater from the food industry
Yan Delauré, Dublin City University
The DCU Water Institute with 19 partners is setting out to demonstrate the efficacy of High Rate
Algae Pond technology as an eco-innovative solution for the treatment of waste water. This
demonstration project funded under the Societal Challenge Pillar of the H2020 framework program
will target the sub-sector of the Food & Drink industry which deals with brine products. The large
content of biodegradable matter and high salt levels typically found in this type of waste stream
requires complex sequences of physicochemical and biological treatment processes to meet
increasingly stringent EU standards for the management and protection of the water environment.
Associated costs, for the 15,000 European SMEs involved in the sector, are estimated at €4.46 billion
and can represent up to 14% of companies’ annual turnover. This is often perceived as unaffordable
and non-compliance presents major environmental risks. The solution will be based on the
synergestic use of halotolerant micro algae and bacteria. A modular technology platform will be
developed to address inefficiencies at and extract value from all stages of the treatment process.
The worpackages will explore novel technologies and solutions for the valorization of the process by-
products ranging from pre-processing sludges and HRAP liquid effluents to HRAP algae biomass. The
technology will be integrated at three large scale pilot sites to demonstrate its sustainability and
business viability. The DCU Water Institute will contribute to all workpackages and will coordinate
research and development on effluent valorization through desalination. This will include research

on desalination from Electrodialysis and Reverse Osmosis with novel pumping and energy recovery
solutions.
Poster 6: Horizon 2020 SC5 Project: SCENT - Smart Toolbox for Engaging Citizens into
a People-Centric Observation Web
Eddie Shaw, CARR Communication
The Scent smart toolbox consists of a crowd sourcing platform which will be used to collect images
and text from citizens. This will extend the in-situ infrastructure to augment, complement and
update current land-cover and land-line maps. Coupled with this platform is the SCENT intelligence
engine which will utlise innovative machine learning to classify and annotate images and text
sourced from citizens and existing open platforms. In addition, a serious gaming application will be
developed to annotate unutilised images from such platforms (e.g. Flickr) as complementary data
sources to quantify the impact of land-cover and land-use changes in the context of flood risk
prediction. The project will test and validate the SCENT toolbox in two large scale pilots, the urban
case of the KIFISOS River in Attica, Greece and the rural case of DANUBE DELTA in Romania. The
anticipated people-centric observation web will be OGC-compliant and will serve as a valuable
resource to GEOSS portal.
Poster 7: Horizon 2020 SC5 Project: AgroCycle - Sustainable techno-economic
solutions for the agricultural value chain
Eoin White, Agrocycle, University College Dublin
AgroCycle2
is a H20203
project led by UCD School of Biosystems and Food Engineering and
addressing the application of the ‘circular economy’ across the agri-food industry. It takes a full
systems approach to the ‘circular economy’, from the farm right through to the consumer and
beyond, into the bio-energy and bio-processing industries; including utilising agri-food waste
streams as feedstock for high value added bio-products such as biopolymers, nutraceuticals,
pharmaceuticals and biochemicals. AgroCycle is a Sino-EU collaborative research venture, with 26
partners from across the EU, China and Hong Kong. The project is funded from the European Union’s
Horizon 2020 research and innovation programme (€7 million), with additional funding from the
governments of the Peoples’ Republic of China and Hong Kong. The project will deliver a protocol for
the implementation of the ‘circular economy’ within the agri-food sector. It will contribute to setting
policy direction at EU level, and has a dissemination and implementation programme that assures
significant global impact.
Email: agrocycle@ucd.ie Website: www.agrocycle.eu Twitter: @AgroCycle_EU
2
This project received funding from the European Union’s Horizon 2020 research and innovation programme under grant
agreement No 690142
3
H2020 SC5 - Climate action, environment, resource efficiency and raw materials

Poster 8: Water JPI Project: PROGNOS - Predicting in-lake responses to change using
near real time models
Eleanor Jennings and Tadhg Moore, Dundalk Institute of Technology
Lakes and reservoirs are under continuous pressure from urbanization and agricultural
intensification, and from changes in climate, including an increasing occurrence of extreme climatic
events. These pressures can reduce water quality by promoting the occurrence of nuisance algal
blooms and higher levels of dissolved organic carbon (DOC), two issues that can substantially
increase the costs for water treatment. To monitor such changes in water quality, automated high
frequency (HF) monitoring systems are increasingly being adopted for lake and reservoir
management across Europe. These HF data are mostly used to provide near real time (NRT)
information on the present lake state. An even more valuable tool for water management, however,
would be to use HF data to run computer models that forecast the probability of a change in lake
state in the coming weeks or months. In PROGNOS, we will develop an integrated approach that
couples HF lake monitoring data to dynamic water quality models to forecast short-term changes in
lake water quality. This will potentially provide a greater window of opportunity over which to make
water quality management decisions, and will increase the value of HF monitoring data, ensuring
that their potential to guide water quality management is fully realised. This project will promote
innovative solutions for water-related challenges across Europe. It will develop, demonstrate and
disseminate forecast based adaptive management solutions for two specific water quality threats:
nuisance algal blooms and the production disinfection by-products from DOC. The technology
demonstrated here has the potential to transform water management and foster the growth of
European companies that specialize in adaptive water management and water quality forecasting
systems. The project consortium includes scientists from European sites that have been using HF
monitoring systems since the late 1990s, modelers who are familiar with algal blooms and DOC
levels, and a socio-economist with expertise in assessing societal benefits from changes in water
management.
Poster 9: Water JPI Project: STaRE - Characterization of antibiotic resistant bacteria
and detection of multi-drug resistance plasmids in wastewater treatment
plant effluent in Ireland
Fiona Walsh and Thi Thuy Do, Maynooth University
Wastewater treatment plants (WWTP) have been recognized as reservoirs of antibiotic resistant
bacteria (ARB) and antibiotic resistance genes (ARGs). WWTP effluent was characterized in Ireland
with respect to ARB and the presence of plasmids mediated ARGs (R-plasmids). Samples from two
WWTP were collected in March and October 2015 and screened for the prevalence of amoxicillin,
ciprofloxacin and tetracycline resistance in total faecal coliforms and enterococci. The minimal
inhibitory concentrations of these bacteria were determined for nine antibiotics from seven
different classes. R-plasmids were isolated both from the cultured bacteria and using an exogenous
method to isolate plasmids directly from WWTP effluent samples. Among total faecal coliforms, the
most prevalent resistance phenotype in WWTP A and B, respectively, was observed for amoxicillin
(27.3%, 39.3%), followed by ciprofloxacin (15.7%, 9.8%) and tetracycline (5.2%, 3.6%). Amoxicillin
resistant enterococci were not identified in any samples. The prevalence of tetracycline resistance in
enterococci were 6.8% and 7.1%, and ciprofloxacin resistance 4.3%, 3.4%, in each sample
respectively. More than 30% of all selected isolates were multidrug resistant (MDR). Twenty five R-
plasmids were identified from these cultured bacteria and ten directly from the samples. R-plasmids

will be analysed further to understand the mechanisms of the ARG present on the plasmids and the
similarities between the plasmids. The presence of ARB and R-plasmids in WWTP effluent
demonstrated that WWTP contribute to the dissemination of ARB and ARGs in the environment,
which could impact human health.
Poster 10: Water JPI Project: TRACE - Tracking and assessing the Risk from Antibiotic
resistant genes using Chip technology in surface water Ecosystems
Eithne O’Flaherty and Enda Cummins, University College Dublin
An estimated 700,000 deaths are caused annually by antibiotic resistant infections worldwide
(O’Neill, 20144
). It is estimated that 10 million people worldwide could be dying annually from
antibiotic resistant bacteria (ARB) by 2050. The overall goal of the TRACE Water JPI project is to
develop a simple on-site detection technology that uses a chip-based solution that can detect a
panel of resistance related signatures for waterborne microorganisms. This will allow for a rapid and
cost efficient evaluation of antibiotic resistance. The project also involves the collection of data on
levels of antibiotics, ARB and antibiotic resistant genes (ARGs) at selected surface water sites around
Europe. This data is used to track the origin and fate of ARB at the selected sites which is
subsequently used to provide data for a human health risk assessment model. The model evaluates
the potential risk to human health from the presence of ARB through recreational water, drinking
water and irrigation practices. The results will inform recommendations to sanitary and/or
regulatory authorities on potential intervention strategies to reduce human exposure to antibiotic
resistance. The TRACE project calls on an EU multidisciplinary collaborative approach, ensuring a
convergence of key knowledge competencies, to address the serious global health issue of ARO in
the aquatic environment.
Poster 11: GO GREEN EX: Who DARES Wins COST Action Proposal
Tadhg E. MacIntyre and Aoife A. Donnelly, University of Limerick
GO GREEN EX are initiating a proposal to investigate two overlapping societal challenges (sustainable
environment and mental health) at the interface of human-nature interactions. It will involve
researchers who study how engagement with nature can have positive effects for individuals, among
communities, and across societies in the European context. Specifically, Who DARES Wins
(Determining Athletes Responses to Environmental Settings) will evaluate how those sport
participants engage with their environment. It will explore the potential outcomes that may arise
(e.g., well-being, awareness of sustainable environment concept) and mediating variables (e.g.,
nature relatedness). Related research and innovation projects have been funded previously
(www.phenotype.eu; www.bluehealth2020.eu Erasmus+ Benefits of Outdoor Sports for Society).
The research literature (Kardan et al., 2015) suggests that physical activity in natural spaces (i.e.,
‘green exercise’) has synergistic benefits to well-being, compared to exercise in artificial settings or
built environments. Furthermore, accumulating evidence suggests that this interaction with nature
has the capacity to increase peoples’ awareness of environmental issues and thus it can be a catalyst
for change. Increasing pro-environmental behaviour would also have a reciprocal effect on mental
well-being. Our transdisciplinary approach will connect researchers in physical activity research,
4
O’Neill (2014). The Review on Antimicrobial Resistance. Antimicrobial resistance: Tackling a crisis for the
health and wealth of nations. Available at http://amrreview.org/sites/default/files/Report-52.15.pdf

psychological science and environmental science with key stakeholders (NGO’s in mental health and
environment). This research has the capacity to address some of the pressures member states face
in meeting their obligations under EU environment directives. Additionally, it will promote the
concept of ecosystem benefits for health and the utilisation of our natural environment as an asset.
Poster 12: River Channelization and Modification – The Subsequent Effects on
Macroinvertebrate Assemblages Due To in-Stream Habitat Alteration
Barry Walls, University of Ulster
Ninety-six percent of British river catchments have been channelized, presenting difficulties for
reaching the WFD’s eco-hydromorphological goals. Following a review, only 11 out of 21 articles
concluded that channelization negatively impacted macroinvertebrate communities. Since 2000,
expenditure on river restoration in the UK and USA exceeded £971 million and $1 billion,
respectively. However, up to 97% of projects fail to benefit biota. A case study on the River
Owenreagh, Northern Ireland, compared macroinvertebrate assemblages in channelized and non-
channelized reaches using nMDS and ANOSIM. A highly significant difference between reaches
occurred once only, following a flood (ANOSIM R statistic: 0.672; p-value: 0.001). BV-STEP produced
a highly significant correlation between taxa and the variables ‘D50, pool depth and temperature’
(Spearman rank correlation: 0.487, p-value: 0.001). Results highlight a need for assessing and
prioritising rivers for restoration, so that financial resources can be employed in an evidence-based
manner to achieve maximum ecological benefits.
Poster 13: Software tools to characterise and benchmark the resource efficiency of
Wastewater Treatment Plants
Lorna Fitzsimons, Dublin City University
Traditionally, many wastewater treatment plants have been driven by the need to meet
environmental effluent targets and have not been incentivised to reduce resource consumption, for
example, energy, chemicals and water. Consequently, resource efficiency has often been
overlooked. The objective of this research, a collaborative project funded by the EPA, was to develop
software tools to characterise and benchmark the energy/resource efficiency of many
representative Irish wastewater treatment plants (WWTPs) and to calculate and compare the life-
cycle costs and environmental footprints of small-scale Irish WWTPs. As a result of this research two
software tools have been developed. KPICalc is a toolkit which facilitates the benchmarking of
wastewater treatment plant performance. DST is a decision support tool which can be used to assess
the life-cycle costs, both CAPEX and OPEX, of small-scale Irish WWTPs. This poster describes the
rationale for this research, the development and architecture of the software tools and provides an
overview of the scope and functionality of the software tools. In addition, the poster describes the
detailed audits undertaken to characterise and compare the resource efficiencies of several Irish
WWTPs.

Poster 14: Microplastic pollution in Ireland: Current knowledge and future perspectives
Anne Marie Mahon, Galway-Mayo Institute of Technology
Plastic pollution has become a global priority affecting marine life, ecosystems and potentially
human health. Microplastics are small (< 5mm) fragments of plastics which are of particular concern
due to their bioavailability and potential to accumulate organic contaminants in increasing quantities
with decreasing size and are now found to be ubiquitous in the marine environment. Due to a shift
in focus from the marine environment to sources of microplastics and potential impacts on
freshwater environments, two initial EPA funded studies, investigated the scope of microplastic
pollution in Ireland. Waste water treatment plants were identified as receptors of the cumulative
abundance of microplastics arising from Industry (plastics production, recycling, manufacturing),
landfill and household waste. The majority of these microplastics are accumulated in the sewage
sludge and following application to agricultural land, their pathway remains unknown. With global
plastics production set to rise exponentially over the coming decades, important knowledge gaps
regarding the fate and impacts of microplastics in freshwater environments must be addressed.
Intervention strategies should aim to reduce the release of microplastics into the environment at
source thereby contributing to “closing the loop” as proposed in the new Circular Economy Package.

Abstracts – Stands
Stand 1: Water Joint Programming Initiative
Padraic Larkin, Water JPI Co-Chair & Maurice Héral, Water JPI Coordinator (ANR)
Joint Programming Initiatives are inter-governmental collaborations meant to tackle major societal
challenges unable to be addressed by individual countries and in doing so contribute to the
development of the European Research Area. Member States and Associated Countries participate
in joint initiatives on a voluntary basis in order to increase the value of relevant national and
European R&D funding through joint planning, implementation and evaluation of national research
programmes. Launched in 2010, the Joint Programming Initiative Water challenges for a changing
world, the Water JPI tackles the ambitious challenge of achieving sustainable water systems for a
sustainable economy in Europe and abroad. The Water JPI partners currently represent 88 % of the
European National Public RDI investment on water. The Water JPI objectives are:
 Providing and steering research and innovation in the water sector;
 Reaching effective, sustainable coordination of European water research, development and
innovation;
 Harmonising national water research agendas and activities in partner countries;
 Promoting interactions and networking between different communities (researchers,
enterprises, policy-makers, civil society, etc.);
 Supporting European leadership in science and technology.
For more information, please contact the Water JPI Coordinator, Dominique Darmendrail
(dominique.darmendrail@agencerecherche.fr) or the Irish contact point, Alice Wemaere
(a.wemaere@epa.ie).

Stand 2: SPIRE: Sustainable Process Industry through Resource and Energy Efficiency
Lionel Platteuw, Executive Director of EUnited
The SPIRE partnership (Sustainable Process Industry through Resource and Energy Efficiency) is a
cross-sectoral initiative involving the main players in the European Union's process industries – eight
sectors that transform commodity resources into essential products: chemicals, steel, engineering,
minerals, non-ferrous metals, cement, ceramics and water. In 2013, SPIRE was designated by the
European Commission as a public-private partnership of strategic importance for European industry.
Through dedicated Horizon 2020 calls, SPIRE partners can participate in research and innovation
projects, with the objective of making the process industry more resource- and energy-efficient. At
its launch, SPIRE set out two key targets for 2030: a 30% reduction from current levels in fossil fuel
energy intensity, and the reduction by a fifth of non-renewable, primary raw material intensity.
2016 calls results
The 2016 SPIRE calls led to 63 eligible proposals out of which 17 were above the thresholds. Out of
the 17, 15 projects have received EC funding leading to an excellent ~22% success rate (~ 75 000 000
euros EC funding), placing SPIRE 1st
as compared to the other PPPs. The following projects are being
funded:
 SPIRE 1 (water management):
 INSPIREWater (IVL, Dechema, Clariant, BFI, DOW, Arcelor)
 SPOTVIEW (Arcelor, BFI, CERTH, LIST, VTT)
 ReWaCEM (Fraunhofer, BFI)
 SPIRE 2 (plant-wide monitoring and control)
 CoPro (INEOS, Bayer, P&G, CERTH)
 MONSOON (Fraunhofer, CERTH)
 FUDIPO (Fraunhofer, Tupras, IDENER)
 COCOP (DSM, GERDAU, IDENER, Tecnalia, BFI)
 SPIRE 3 (valorisation of bio-resources)
 Bio4Products (Greenovate!)
 KARMA2020 (SP, VTT, VERTECH Group)
 REHAP (Tecnalia, VTT, FORESA, LafargeHolcim, CARTIF)
 SPIRE 4 (industrial furnaces design)
 IMPROOF (DOW)
 VULKANO (Circe, Fives, CSM, Tecnalia, Fraunhofer)
 DREAM (ICT, CRIT)
 SPIRE 5 (use of CO2)
 CarbonNext (Dechema, LEITAT, Fraunhofer, TataSteel)
 SPIRE 6 (business models)
 INSPIRE (TNO, Uni-Manchester)
More information is available on the SPIRE website: www.spire2030.eu
Stand 3: Netherlands Enterprise Agency (RVO.nl) – the Dutch NCP for Horizon 2020
John Heynen, Netherlands Enterprise Agency
Netherlands Enterprise Agency (RVO.nl) – an executive agency of the Netherlands Ministry of
Economic Affairs – supports Dutch institutions and enterprises, including SMEs, in sustainable,
agrarian, innovative and international business. This includes support when applying for EU funding
programmes. We might be helpful in finding a Dutch partner that fits into your Horizon2020 idea or
consortium.

Stand 4: LIFE – the EU Environment and Climate Action Funding programme
Pat Martin, Department of Communications, Climate Action and Environment
The EU LIFE Programme is encouraging applications from public and private organisations seeking
co-funding for environment and climate action projects. Visitors to the LIFE Programme stand will
find information on the EU’s financial instrument dedicated to supporting Environment, Nature
Conservation and Climate Action projects throughout the EU. LIFE has a budget of €3.4 billion for
2014-2020 and is complementary to the other Community programmes such as Horizon 2020, the
structural funds (such as ERDF) and other programmes. Awards are typically in the range of one to
five million euro for projects with a duration of three to five years. Environment and Climate Action
projects contribute towards a resource-efficient, low-carbon and climate-resilient economy;
protecting and improving the environment; maintaining and improving biodiversity, ecosystems and,
in particular, the Natura 2000 network. The maximum EU co-financing rate for projects ranges
between 60% and 75% depending on the topic.
Stand 5: iCRAG - Irish Centre for Research in Applied Geosciences
Fergus McAuliffe. iCRAG Project, University College Dublin
iCRAG will transform applied geoscience research in Ireland, performing research which is designed
to deliver economic impact for a broad range of application areas and industries. Supported by
Science Foundation Ireland, the European Regional Development Fund and more than 50 industry
partners, iCRAG is a collaboration between 150 researchers within UCD, TCD, NUIG, UCC, NUIM,
DIAS and Teagasc with funding of €26 million. The Centre brings together Ireland’s leading
geoscience experts focussing on a range of issues all of which underpin economic development -
from safe and secure groundwater supplies through to the discovery of mineral/aggregate deposits,
and from the de-risking of oil and gas exploration to ensuring that the Irish public is educated and
informed on these issues. The principal goal of the Centre is to embed the outcomes of high quality
research within industry practice in Ireland and overseas. iCRAG’s research programme consists of
four cohesive topics or ‘spokes’ in the areas of raw materials, marine geoscience, groundwater and
hydrocarbons which are built around four enabling technology and equipment based ’platforms’
which focus on geophysical sensing and imaging, geochemistry, 3D geological modelling and public
perception and understanding. Further information on the various research areas within iCRAG,
potential collaboration opportunities though H2020 Societal Challenge 5, along with the numerous
research positions available within the Centre, are available at our stand.
Stand 6: COST - “European Cooperation in Science and Technology”
Rita Ward, Enterprise Ireland
COST is an intergovernmental framework for European Cooperation in Science and Technology,
allowing for the coordination of nationally-funded research on a European level. COST contributes to
reducing the fragmentation in European research investments and opening the European Research
Area to cooperation worldwide. Currently the membership comprises of 36 member countries plus
Israel and is open to international participation. COST does not fund research itself, but provides
support for networking activities carried out within COST Actions. The Actions are open to all
researchers (industrial and academic) and typically run for 4 years. The networking activities are:

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