What is your PhD about? The potential of biochar to lock in carbon that would be otherwise be released into the atmosphere and thereby reduce GHG emissions. Biochar is any organic matter that has been heated without oxygen present and is the name used for charcoal when used as a soil additive. If it’s not burned (as in the case of barbeque charcoal), the biochar can store carbon for thousands of years. I’m using biochar made from poultry litter post anaerobic digestion (digestate) – so it’s a by-product of the process of making renewable energy from poultry litter. In that sense, it feeds into the circular economy. What I am exploring is: What are the effects of using biochar on grass – does it improve soil health, plant health, grass yields, for example? And how does this compare to the direct application of its source material- digestate.

Why is your project important? The environmental question is obviously very urgent. I’m interested in taking something that we think of as ‘waste’ and turning it into a ‘resource’. In Stockholm Sweden, this is already happening on a large, industrial scale. They take municipal green waste, turn it into biochar and sell it to their forestry service to use when planting trees. They also give it out, free, to the public for use in their gardens. Stockholm expected to produce 7000 tons of biochar by 2020 sequestering 25200 tons of CO2 (the equivalent of taking 3500 cars off the road) and producing 25200MW/hour of energy (the equivalent of heat for 400 apartments). Within eight years the project will deliver an estimated revenue on the city’s investment of over 850,000 euros. We’re a good bit behind, but I believe that carbon credits will come to the fore soon if we have any chance of reaching the UK’s carbon net-zero target by 2050.

How supported to you feel as a PhD student? I feel so well supported, particularly by my supervisor, Dr Neil Reid. His door is always open, and he’s been a great mentor to me, not only through my PhD but previously as an undergraduate and masters student. My supervisor at AFBI, Dr Rodrigo Olave, likewise continues to be a great support to me. My PGR peers are also a great bunch, and we help each other. I enjoyed aspects of the induction offered by the QUB Graduate School but to be honest, over time, it felt more geared towards intellectual grammar whereas I’m more interested in scientific research and communicating the results to people at all levels.

You’re a mature student – how did you end up here? I had a career in public service, and, during that, I did a City and Guilds qualification in gardening, just for fun. I became hooked. When I retired, I embarked on a horticultural course at Greenmount College, but it didn’t totally chime – I found I was more interested in the environmental aspect rather than how pretty a garden looked. So, I went on to do a degree at Queen’s in Land Use and Environmental Management and everything flowed from that.

Do you have any advice for anyone thinking of doing a PhD? Go for it. Anyone can do a degree if they really want to – I’m living proof. I’m always saying to my kids, “Never look down on anyone just because they don’t have a degree, they are probably more than capable of it”. Follow your passion, you never know where it will take you.

What are your hopes for the future? I look forward to having grandchildren someday and playing a positive role in their education. Right now, I am doing a PhD for the love of science and learning and in the hope that my research is a step towards better environmental health.

What is your PhD about? My research is in sustainable diets and more specifically, the role that plant-based meat alternatives can play in sustainable and healthy diets. My PhD is part of a multi-site project being conducted in collaboration with University College Cork and University College Dublin. As part of this larger project, we will be carrying out a randomised controlled trial across the three study sites to test whether newly developed dietary guidelines specific to the Irish context, can reduce greenhouse gas emissions, meet nutritional requirements, promote health and be considered acceptable to the public. The hope is that the findings from this research will feed into the development of public policy and food-based dietary guidelines for the Irish context which incorporate nutrition, health and sustainability.

It’s quite exciting as there are no other human intervention trials I’m aware of, that have tested the effectiveness of dietary recommendations which aim to reduce diet-related greenhouse gas emissions. A number of other countries have already incorporated sustainability into their national dietary guidelines so hopefully we will see Ireland move in this direction also.

How supported do you feel at Queen’s? My supervisors are incredibly supportive, especially given the particularly challenging circumstances of the past 18 months. Despite all working remotely, the Nutrition Research Group at CPH still managed to meet regularly and colleagues at CPH have been really prompt to respond to queries and point me in the right direction. I have also found the workshops and online events offered by the Graduate School a great resource for skills development, support and wellbeing.

I feel like Queen’s have also been really supportive in providing PhD students the opportunity to earn extra money and gain teaching and demonstrating experience. This is something I have started doing recently and am really enjoying so far. I have also recently taken on the position of the CPH PGR student rep and have realised from this role how much members of SMDBS PGR Research Board value student feedback and opinions and want to support PGR students in their research and development.

What are your hopes for the future? I think I would probably enjoy a Postdoc position directly after my PhD but I’m also drawn to opportunities outside of academia in the public sector. Luckily, the area I’m in is very topical and important right now, so I would certainly like to continue to pursue a career in sustainable nutrition.

What is your PhD about? It’s about trying to make agriculture more sustainable and less harmful to the environment. In my particular project, we will be trialling willow as a feed supplement in grass-based pasture systems in the UK and Ireland. The work will be carried out in partnership with AFBI and also Reading University.

We all know now that agricultural emissions, particularly from ruminant livestock such as cattle, are a big contributor to climate change. But there are solutions and scientists are now providing the evidence for this. I’ve a passion for the dairy industry and I believe we can transform it so much. It’s exciting to be part of a big sea-change like that – future-proofing farming to meet the global challenge.

How supported to you feel? I feel very supported by my supervisor, Dr Katerina Theodoridou and by IGFS Director Professor Nigel Scollan – he’s a great teacher and has been a great encouragement to me. I also feel supported by the Food BioSystems DTP – I get to meet other PhD students through that, which is great. Online seminars available through the Graduate School were very useful when I first started my PhD as everyone was still working remotely and I did find that hard. I’m much happier now that I’m back on campus and I love the energy I get from seeing and talking to other students and researchers. I like a bit of both – I need the buzz of being around other people, but then I retire to the McClay Library for a few hours for some peace and quiet and to get some serious work done.

What are your hopes for the future? I’m a great believer in applying science to the real world. I would like to commercialise my research and start a business. I’m passionate about coming up with solutions for carbon-net-zero and adding value to food systems. I’m from a farming background and I’ve worked in agriculture and the agrifood industry in New Zealand and the US. So I would see myself going into industry but with a strong research element – eg. creating a spinout company.

Would you encourage others to do a PhD? I think if it can help you get to where you want to go, then definitely. It’s not something that was ever in my plan, to be honest. I always wanted to work in the agrifood industry. I’ve tried a few different things in terms of farming and agrifood. I also did a placement year at Ohio State University. I think these things are all important in trying to work out what it is you want. I didn’t rush into a PhD and I think it’s important to explore other options and make sure it’s really for you. When this PhD came up, it was right up my street, because it has that practical element to it – trying to get the science out there into the real world, where it can have impact. That’s what I’m most interested in.

What does your role entail?

I am in my third year of working as a PostDoc researcher and I’m currently working on two projects. The first is a safefood-funded project, looking at snacking in children, on an all-Ireland basis. It’s very much an unresearched topic, so there's a lot of mining of UK and Irish databases for evidence.

The second is an MRC-funded project called CONNECTS-Food, which aims to co-create with stakeholders an implementation intervention to support schools in adopting a whole-school approach to food, across the UK. They’re both fascinating projects and dovetail quite well so I’m very luck

How supported do you feel working at Queen’s?

There’s a lovely sociability to working within IGFS which I really love – it’s a very collegiate and supportive environment. It’s easy to get to know the more senior researchers and there are lots of networking opportunities and fun things like the Christmas party. The new Biological Sciences building has been a real plus, in that sense. Behind the scenes, you know your supervisors and other senior researchers are really looking out for you and mentoring you, helping you find research projects, etc.

Of course, there are downsides – it’s financially insecure and some PostDocs are jumping from a two-month contract here to a three-month contract there, and Brexit and Covid has just made it a whole lot worse. That’s the same in any UK university right now. But it’s still a great learning experience. You can really develop your skills – not just your research ability but other skills like stakeholder engagement, promotion in the media, networking, etc. These are transferable skills for any career.

What are your hopes for the future?

I’m keeping an open mind. Academia is an obvious option and I already do some PhD supervision and teaching. I am also working towards a PGCHET qualification which is a great thing to have on the CV. I was very lucky that in my first research project as a PostDoc (an EITFood-funded, two-year project called We Value Food) there were funds available for the PGCHET – that’s not always the case.

But I’m also drawn to the policy side of things and would consider working in a regulatory organisation like the Public Health Agency or the Food Standards Agency. Or there are industry jobs where you can still be involved in research, so I wouldn’t rule that out either.

Having research experience and a PhD is always going to be a bonus whether you’re aiming for an academic career or working outside the university. I would definitely encourage anyone thinking of a PhD as it’s great to have your own specialist area of knowledge for a few years – you never get that opportunity again. But I would equally say to someone considering a PhD: Don’t undertake it unless you really are passionate about the subject. There will be hurdles to overcome and I think that deep commitment is necessary to drive you on.

What was your PhD about? 

It was about researching alternative proteins for animal feed that would be more sustainable, such as red clover, which takes nitrogen from the atmosphere and transfers it into the soil, thus reducing the need for artificial fertiliser. Or using broad beans, which are a native crop, to replace soya, which is flown in from South America and has a very high carbon footprint. At the time I was doing my PhD, from 2014-2017, no-one had really looked these kinds of ideas in detail and I got a lot of interest from farmers and industry. In fact, DAERA is now running a pilot scheme with farmers which directly leads on from the research.

What does your job involve? 

It’s about supporting and maintaining the Fane Valley Feeds customer base as well as conducting some research and looking out for new ingredients that would be a USP for the company and running trials for those different products.

Does your postgraduate research help you in your industry role, do you think? 

The PhD provided me with the foundation for discipline including time-management and organisational skills, which are easily transferable to my industry career. It has also gave me deeper understanding of the science than I would have had from merely my BSc degree in Ag Tech. In terms of lab techniques and methodologies and the rigour of evidence-gathering and statistics, you definitely have a fuller knowledge of the science end of things after a PhD – which definitely helps when you’re talking to people about new additives and ingredients.

Do you have any advice for anyone considering a PhD in this area? 

I think it’s another string to your bow, even if you decide to work in industry. For the reasons outlined above, a PhD can give you more confidence and a deeper knowledge on which to draw, even if you’re in quite a practical role. On the other hand, you always have the option of returning to research at a later point, which is a good thing to have in your back pocket. So, it definitely opens up more doors.

Plus, I really enjoyed my PhD. I had a great supervisor in Dr Katerina Theodoridou, she was very supportive and I got to meet lots of new people. It was a great experience and I’m really glad to have had the opportunity.