PhD student Brakemi says EU-CONEXUS funding opened collaborative opportunities

Sustainability in a circular economy

I applied for and was awarded a mobility fund from EU-CONEXUS under the Call for Participation in International Conferences on Smart Urban Coastal Sustainability.

This training focused on the removal of contaminants of emerging concern, such as organic micropollutants (OMPs), antibiotic-resistant microorganisms/genes (ARMs/ARGs) and pathogens (including bacteria and viruses), during advanced wastewater treatment.

Topics covered during the training included examining different technologies for wastewater treatment and post treatment, methodologies to assess the occurrence of chemical and biological pollutants in the environment, microbiological tools to identify biological pathways, methods to determine the ecotoxicological consequences of their discharge, and process sustainability in a circular economy context.

Immense benefit

The EU-CONEXUS mobility fund has been of immense benefit. Without the funds, I would not have been able to attend this training, which has been helpful with my PhD research. One core benefit of this training is that it inspired some of the future research works in the recommendations section of my PhD thesis.

Interactions with peers and experts have contributed to a better understanding of current challenges and opportunities in the field of wastewater. In addition, my participation in this training has allowed me to network with researchers in the field. This will hopefully aid joint research and project collaborations.

Research

Having previously attended the EU-CONEXUS PhD Summer School at the University of Zadar and the EU-CONEXUS conference at the University of Rostock in 2023, I can safely say that I benefited from the collaborative elements of SETU’s involvement with EU-CONEXUS.

Thanks to the training and knowledge acquired on the circular economy in wastewater treatment, a common feature of seafood processing industries, my research team is better positioned to contribute to The Circular Economy Programme for Ireland by using my PhD research experience as a case study.

With the knowledge gained during this training, I am now better positioned to recommend novel research themes and topics in collaboration with my SETU research group and this should increase our competitive grant application success rates.

“Having previously attended the EU-CONEXUS PhD Summer School at the University of Zadar and the EU-CONEXUS conference at the University of Rostock in 2023, I can safely say that I benefited from the collaborative elements of SETU’s involvement with EU-CONEXUS.”

Brakemi Egbedi, SETU PhD Student

Mobility Fund

The EU-CONEXUS mobility fund aims to support students, staff, and researcher mobility within the EU, particularly among the institutions that are part of the alliance. By encouraging mobility among EU-CONEXUS partner institutions, the fund promotes European collaboration and innovation in education and research. It fosters the exchange of knowledge, best practices, and cultural understanding, contributing to the creation of a more integrated and competitive European Higher Education Area. To find further information about the EU-CONEXUS mobility fund, tap here.