International Day of Women & Girls in Science

10 February 2023

International Day of Women & Girls in Science (IDWGIS) 11th February 2023

According to the UN “A significant gender gap has persisted throughout the years at all levels of science, technology, engineering and mathematics (STEM) disciplines all over the world. Even though women have made tremendous progress towards increasing their participation in higher education, they are still under-represented in these fields.

Gender equality has always been a core issue for the United Nations. Gender equality and the empowerment of women and girls will make a crucial contribution not only to economic development of the world, but to progress across all the goals and targets of the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development, as well.”

This year focuses on the role of Women and Girls in Science as relates to the #sustainable Development Goals including industry, #innovation & infrastructure & sustainable cities & communities Learn More: https://www.un.org/en/observances/women-and-girls-in-science-day

Here in AMBER we are celebrating and spotlighting just some of the women who facilitate and participate in world leading science in AMBER the SFI Centre for Advanced Materials and BioEngineering Research.

Dr Lorraine Byrne is the AMBER Executive Director, Lorraine has responsibility for non-scientific aspects of the centre including governance, external stakeholder engagement (including industry, academia, government and public sector), business planning, international funding diversification, communications and public engagement. In partnership with the AMBER Director and leadership team, Lorraine leads the definition and execution of the AMBER strategic plan and the delivery of the centres mission and vision. She has management responsibility for the professional and technical staff within the centre. Lorraine has a first class honours degree in Analytical Science and. PhD in Chemistry both from Dublin City University. She also holds a postgraduate diploma in Nanotechnology from University of Oxford and a Diploma in Company Direction from Institute of Directors.

Prof. Valeria Nicolosi is the Chair of Nanomaterials and Advanced Microscopy in Trinity College Dublin, and a PI in AMBER. Prof. Nicolosi’s work in AMBER includes synthesis, exfoliation and characterisation of layered materials towards a range of applications, particularly energy and ICT. Strong emphasis is given to the characterisation of materials and devices by advanced electron microscopy techniques, such as aberration-corrected TEM, STEM, EELS and EDS. She has published more than 200 high-impact-papers and won numerous awards. Professor Valeria Nicolosi is Ireland’s only six-time ERC awardee.

Deirdre Caden is the International Engagement Manager. In AMBER, alongside providing one-to-one proposal supports to investigators, Deirdre has responsibility for the direction and implementation of the Centre’s international (non-exchequer) research funding strategy, with the goal of maximising research income to the Centre and its investigators across AMBER’s 9 partner institutions. Deirdre holds an MSc in Applied Environmental Geology (University of Wales, Cardiff) and a BSc (Hons) in Earth Sciences (NUI Galway) and has prior experience in the waste management industry. In 2016, Deirdre was awarded a Certificate in Research Management from the European Association of Research Managers and Administrators (EARMA) where she was later elected a Board member and to the External Relations Thematic Steering Group for two years. Deirdre was recently awarded an Irish Research Council (IRC) 2022 Research Allies award in the Research & Technical Support category.

Saranya Rameshkumar is a Postdoctoral Researcher in AMBER. Saranya’s current project is focusing on STEM-led research for developing sustainable materials and processes fostering circular bioeconomy. Saranya has 7 years of research experience on developing polymeric nanocomposite and multi-functional membrane materials for water purification and wastewater remediation, Process design and integration of membrane filtration technologies for sustainable water, environment and energy

#womeninscience #womeninscienceday