The Circular Bioeconomy Education Centre 

Project name: The Circular Bioeconomy Education Centre 

PI name: Helena McMahon (MTU Tralee) 

Project team: Daisy Odunze (MTU Tralee), Máire Nic an Bhaird, Laoise Ní Chléirigh (Maynooth University), Quentin Crowley, Kate van der Merwe, Ni Ibu (Trinity Centre for the Environment). 

Funders: Department of Agriculture, Food and the Marine (DAFM) under grant agreement 2024 PSSRC365 

Project dates: December 2024 – April 2027. 

Summary: CBEC is a national initiative bringing bioeconomy learning into schools, industry, and lifelong training to increase adoption of circular bioeconomy across different sectors and user groups. The project aims to establish a bio-based education, training and skills network and to develop a national education and upskilling roadmap for the bioeconomy, identifying current education and skills gaps and how to address these needs while engaging with policy makers to provide policy recommendations. 

The CBEC team at the Trinity Centre for the Environment are developing a pilot education and training programme for primary producers in Ireland. The purpose of this pilot will be to increase awareness and adoption of circular bioeconomy practices across several relevant sectors (e.g. agriculture, forestry, marine). More information can be found at the CBEC website here. 

Image caption: The Circular Bioeconomy Education Centre logo.