Trinity PhD Student Excels at Research Breakthrough Competition

Nov 09, 2011

Trinity College Dublin PhD student Eileen Diskin, School of Natural Sciences, has received an award at the Falling Walls Lab international conference for her presentation on her research into antibiotic resistance. The Falling Walls Lab: Share Your Breakthrough initiative, taking place in Berlin on 8 and 9 November, offers the opportunity to 100 excellent young academics and professionals to present their breakthroughs in three minutes.  A distinguished jury of experts from academia, research institutions and business awarded prizes to the three most inspiring breakthroughs.

In her presentation, Eileen discussed breaking the walls to antibiotic resistance, explaining that antibiotic resistance is traditionally thought of as a human problem. However, this is no longer the case as antibiotics are being used in agriculture and other contexts leading to bacteria in wildlife also becoming resistant. Her PhD research uses flamingos as an indicator to show the extent of this resistance in nature. Eileen’s research is focused on the link between wildlife and human health, as the built-up resistance in wildlife has the potential to transfer to humans.

Congratulating Eileen on her achievement, Professor Veronica Campbell, Dean of Graduate Studies said “this gives an excellent example of how the Innovation Academy can support PhD students to profile their research at major international events. This is a tremendous result for Trinity, and all those involved”.

A second PhD student, Christine Power also participated in the competition, talking about her research about breaking the walls to wastewater management. Christine is in the first year of her PhD but already has many proposals to improve wastewater processing by using hydropower.

The Innovation Academy encouraged both Eileen and Christine to submit their presentations to the Falling Walls Lab. Eileen who has been taking courses with the Innovation Academy since February, commented that “with the Innovation Academy, it’s about the next step and what your research actually means”.

The Innovation Academy is the educational centrepiece of the Innovation Alliance between TCD and UCD. The remit of the Innovation Academy is to provide tailored education and training to equip PhD students with the skills, networks and confidence to translate research into commercial, cultural, social or policy value. Through the Innovation Academy, PhD students can take modules leading to a new Graduate Certificate in Innovation & Entrepreneurship.