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INDUSTRY RESEARCH AND INNOVATION IN FOCUS AS RENEWABLE ENGINE PROGRAMME HIGHLIGHTS GROUND-BREAKING ACHIEVEMENTS Led by South West College, the Renewable Engine Programme has culminated in a showcase film demonstrating just some of the successes achieved by the programme over the course of its five-year lifetime.  The Renewable Engine Programme was supported with €6.1 million funding … Continued

Supported by funding from the Renewable Engine programme delivered in collaboration with South West College, and Queen’s University Belfast, County Monaghan based Platinum Tanks have developed a new self-contained, solar power generator for agricultural use. The company based in Lough Egish employ more than 30 members of staff and supply the UK and Irish markets will an extensive range … Continued

Ellie Smith, a research student at Strathclyde University’s Advanced Forming Research Centre (AFRC), has carried out research examining the use of Industry 4.0 technologies in the manufacturing and energy industries. The research was carried out as part of Renewable Engine, a €6.1 million EU INTERREG VA funded cross-border research and innovation programme led by South West … Continued

Renewable Engine, a €6.1M EU INTERREG VA funded cross-border Research and Innovation programme, led by South West College has been announced as the winner of the Research with Impact prize at the 2021 Green Gown Awards. Since the programme’s launch in January 2017, Renewable Engine, a cross border research and innovation project has facilitated direct knowledge transfer, technology development … Continued

The International Conference on Manufacturing of Advanced Composites (ICMAC) relaunched in October 2021. Renewable Engine student David Castellanos was invited to present, joining 50 other participants from the manufacturing industry and academic sector. The programme covered a range of hub projects and provided partners with the opportunity to highlight progress on their research to date, showcasing project outputs. … Continued

Renewable Engine Student Charlie Farrell was invited to present recently at an Early Career Researchers (ECR) online event. Charlie joined over 70 delegates and speakers from institutions such as University of Cambridge, University of Manchester, London South Bank University, Cranfield University and University of Sheffield for the special event titled ‘Highlight Opportunities to Tackle COP26 … Continued

Renewable Engine, a €6.1M EU INTERREG VA funded cross-border Research and Innovation programme, led by South West College has been announced as a finalist at this year’s UK and Ireland Green Gown Awards. The College is the only further education college on the island of Ireland to make the shortlist and will compete with institutions … Continued

Charlie Farrell, final year Renewable Engine student with South West College & QUB, was invited by the Scottish Ecological Design Society (SEDA) to deliver a talk as part of their Solar Seminars on “Embodied Carbon, Life Cycle Analysis, Recycling”. The special event took place on 17th May 2021.   SEDA are an organisation involved in … Continued

Supported by funding from Renewable Engine, Queen’s University Belfast have recently installed an Advanced Rotational Moulding Automation Cell (ARMAC). This was officially opened by Professor Chris Johnston, Pro Vice Chancellor for Engineering and Physical Sciences, on Tuesday 23rd March 2021.   The total investment in ARMAC and its cutting-edge technology is in the region of £350,000; with the Renewable … Continued

Seán O’Connor (Renewable Engine PhD Researcher, working alongside Organic Power Ltd) has received the Environmental Science Association of Ireland (ESAI) “Postgraduate Researcher of the Year award 2020”. Seán’s work will be showcased at the annual ESAI Environ conference set to be held virtually on 16th– 18th June 2021. Seán is in the final stage of … Continued

Through engagement and partnership with the Renewable Engine programme, enterprises ranging from micro-SMEs to large multinationals have had the opportunity to apply for technology development grant funding, in order to bridge the gap between research and technological innovation within industry. 5 enterprises have successfully secured technology development grant funding through the Renewable Engine programme; Soltropy, … Continued

Eleanor Smith, PhD Researcher at the University of Strathclyde, is continuing work on her project entitled “Industry 4.0 & Augmenting the Millennial Worker”, investigating how traditional paper-based instructions and procedures for assembly tasks can be replaced with Augmented Reality (AR) technology. Working closely with her industry partner, Booth Welsh, Ellie has been conducting socially distant … Continued

Members of the Renewable Engine International Stakeholder Group (ISG) have formed a partnership to successfully secure an EU-funded Erasmus+ project, HySkills. The ISG consists of international experts from across industry and academia within the Renewable Energy sector that provide top-level strategic direction to the Renewable Engine programme, while also identifying opportunities for exploitation. HySkills aims … Continued

The Renewable Engine team met virtually in November for the third and final Research Colloquium with participation from all PhD students within the four research partners; South West College, Queen’s University Belfast, University of Strathclyde and Institute of Technology Sligo. Instead of the standard “research progress” presentations, the PhD students were pitted against each other … Continued

This is Maria Damaskou, PhD student with the Renewable Engine Project. She has given an account of her experience as a PhD student with both South West College and the University of Strathclyde: “At home in Greece, I completed an MEng in Electrical & Computer Engineering which led me to embrace the importance of energy … Continued

This is Mansoureh, PhD student with the Renewable Engine Project. She has given an account of her experience as a PhD student at South West College: “My background is in Mechanical Engineering and after my Master’s degree, I decided to broaden my knowledge by working with a highly prestigious international research group. So I started … Continued

With a global shortage of personal protective equipment (PPE) to fight against COVID-19, a call for support was put out by Sligo University Hospital and the Health Service Executive Ireland. On responding to the request, a team of volunteers at the Institute of Technology Sligo set up a mini production line to manufacture face shields … Continued

Renewable Engine PhD student Zara Shiels recently enhanced her entrepreneurial skills and knowledge by completing a virtual ‘Science Entrepreneur Experience’ delivered by Spin Up Science in May 2020. Spin Up Science – who specialise in teaching PhD students and post-doctoral researchers the pathway to commercialising a research idea into a fully-fledged company – delivered the course … Continued

Exciting research being conducted at QUB in collaboration with Kingspan Water & Energy aims to assist rotational moulders in the manufacturing of viable large-scale offshore wave energy generation devices.  By learning more about the development of polymer foams, it is hoped that larger, more robust, and complex structures could be manufactured using the process in … Continued

The race to find a new alternative to produce renewable energy has begun a long time ago, but limitations in the way we manufacture products affects the development of new prototypes.  Rotational moulding is the forgotten manufacturing technology that has the potential to produce large structures, like those needed in renewable energy generation.  The principle … Continued

IT Sligo’s Dr Vignesh Kumaravel has published a review article entitled “Photoelectrochemical conversion of Carbon Dioxide (CO2) into fuels and value-added products” in ACS Energy Letters (ACS Energy Lett. 2020, 5, 2, 486-519, Publication date – January 8th, 2020 https://pubs.acs.org/doi/10.1021/acsenergylett.9b02585).  ACS Energy letters is one of the top ten journals in the field of energy … Continued

Dr Jillian Couto-Phoenix joined the University of Strathclyde team as the new Research and Innovation Coordinator in November 2019, replacing Pauline Murray.  Jill is a former academic with a multidisciplinary research track record that spans both medicine and environmental engineering (more at: https://orcid.org/0000-0001-9371-3795).  Jill transitioned from the basic sciences into engineering because of a desire … Continued

In January, QUB researcher Jitendra Seregar presented his research on “The Advanced Simulation of the Rotational Moulding Process” during the Society of Asian Rotomoulders (STAR) Annual Conference in Goa, India.  He, along with colleagues from QUB, also visited the local university BITS-Pilani Goa campus, toured the rotomoulding lab facilities there and discussed about future collaboration … Continued

Dr Vignesh Kumaravel (IT Sligo) delivered an invited talk entitled “Metal oxide nano-composites: Antimicrobial food packaging and medical polymers” at the 3rd International Symposium on Biomimetic Microreactors for Photoconversion Chemistry.  There were approximately 100 researchers and faculties participating in this conference, organised by Yeungnam University, Republic of Korea, during January 9-10, 2020.  Dr Kumaravel’s talk … Continued

The 6th UK Catalysis Conference took place at Holywell Park, Loughborough over Tuesday 7th – Thursday 9th January 2020.  The meeting provided an opportunity for catalytic scientists and engineers from across the UK’s academic and industrial communities to interact and network over the whole spectrum of Catalysis ranging from Organocatalysis, Biocatalysis, Homogenous catalysis and Heterogeneous … Continued

Action Renewables have hosted Renewable Engine’s latest event, focusing on the role of Energy Storage within a greener energy mix.  The event was held at the Centre for Renewable Energy & Sustainable Technologies (CREST) in Enniskillen, Northern Ireland.  The event gave an update on Renewable Engine progress with a focus on research involving the development … Continued

Renewable Engine PhD Researcher, Maria Damaskou, has attended the 11th annual Scottish Hydrogen and Fuel Cell Association Conference (SHFCA2019) held in Aberdeen on 2nd October 2019. The conference’s theme was “Delivering Scotland’s Energy Transition and the Net Zero Target”, with a special focus on Hydrogen and Fuel Cell technologies as key solutions in energy transition … Continued

Renewable Engine PhD Researcher, Sean O’Connor, and R&I Co-ordinator, Dr Ehiaze Ehimen, of IT Sligo were in attendance at the National Ploughing Championships held in Fenagh, County Carlow.  The event, now in its 88th year, saw over 250,000 visitors over the three-day duration making it Europe’s largest outdoor festival of any kind.  IT Sligo’s participation … Continued

South West College’s PhD researcher, Mansoureh Khaljani, has attended the 16th UK National Heat Transfer Conference, 8-10 September 2019, organised by the University of Nottingham.  Mansoureh was able to present her work to a range of researchers working in the field. The UK National Heat Transfer Conference, organised under the aegis of the UK National … Continued

South West College’s PhD researcher, Zara Shiels, has attended the Catalysis Fundamentals & Practice Summer School hosted by the University of Liverpool.  Zara was able to present her work to a range of researchers working in the field. The Summer School provided an introduction to the fundamental aspects of catalysis such as homogeneous and heterogeneous … Continued

IT Sligo’s Post-Doctoral Researcher, Dr Vignesh Kumaravel, attended the 2nd Global Forum on Advanced Materials and Technologies for sustainable development (GFMAT-2), which was organised by the American Ceramic Society, held during July in Toronto, Canada. The key issues, challenges and opportunities of functional materials for health, energy and environmental applications were addressed at the conference. … Continued

Renewable Engine has officially opened the call for the second round of grant award funding for industry partners who are actively involved in collaborative partnerships with the project research institutions.  Industry partners that are part of the Renewable Engine Project are eligible to progress to receive financial support provided through the project grants via a … Continued

Zara Shiels, PhD student at South West College, has presented her work at the Irish Universities Chemistry Research Colloquium held at TU Dublin.  Zara’s work is focused on the ionic liquid-assisted synthesis of nanocatalysts for the direct conversion of carbon dioxide (CO2) to hydrocarbons. Working alongside academics at both South West College and Queen’s University … Continued

IT Sligo’s Post-Doctoral Researcher, Dr Vignesh Kumaravel, attended the 3rd European Summer School on the Environmental Applications of Advanced Oxidation Processes (AOPs).  Dr Kumaravel was invited to lecture to conference delegates, including PhD students, MSc students, post-doctoral researchers and industry professionals. The purpose of the Summer School was to promote the higher education of young … Continued

Renewable Engine has exhibited and presented at the newly launched Research Hub at All-Energy within the Scottish Event Campus (SEC) in Glasgow, Scotland.  The Research Hub has been developed to showcase some of the high-level research & innovation projects that are being carried out in the Renewable Energy sector across the UK and Ireland. Renewable … Continued

Renewable Engine PhD Researcher Sean O’Connor has been awarded the ESAI Best Poster Presentation prize at Environ 2019.  Sean, a researcher at the Institute of Technology Sligo and working alongside Organic Power in Northern Ireland, is focusing his work on the development of novel anaerobic digestion technology. Sean’s research centres on the area of small-scale … Continued

A cohort of staff from the Renewable Engine project has spent a week visiting Pittsburgh, USA, with the aim of developing relationships, identifying opportunities for collaboration and speaking at the renowned Energy Week held at Carnegie Mellon University.  Dr Alistair Quinn, Dr John Harrison (both South West College), Prof Suresh Pillai (IT Sligo), Dr Mark … Continued

Dr Ehiaze Ehimen, Research & Innovation Co-ordinator at IT Sligo with the Renewable Engine project, has presented a paper on small-scale anaerobic digestion (SSAD) at the World Sustainability Energy Days (WSED) conference, held in Wels, Austria.  The WSED conference connects people from business, the public sector and research and empowers them to embrace a cultural … Continued

Renewable Engine had a successful day at the National Manufacturing & Supply Chain Conference held in Dublin, Ireland.  Dr Alistair Quinn, Programme Manager at South West College, presented the project to the audience at the co-located National Sustainability Summit.  He was able to give an academic perspective to collaborating with industry through Renewable Engine and … Continued