Dr Fionnuala Murphy from the School of Biosystems & Food Engineering, University College Dublin (UCD), gave a presentation on 'Achieving Sustainability in Food Production' to staff and students on Wednesday 3rd March 2021.

Climate change and depletion of natural resources are key challenges facing European societies [1]. The European Union (EU) is highly dependent on imported sources of carbon intensive soybean meal to meet protein needs of poultry and pigs, with imports likely to rise as global demand for protein doubles by 2050 [2]. Consequently, the EU is seeking greater resource efficiency and a switch to a bio-based economy to ensure food security while enabling a transition from a fossil-fuel based economy to a sustainable bioeconomy. Dr Fionnuala Murphy talked about her research developing innovative, sustainable, agri-food systems within the bioeconomy. Using several national and international funded research projects as examples, Dr Murphy highlighted collaborative research, spanning multiple countries, to successfully address globally relevant societal issues.

Dr Fionnuala Murphy is an Assistant Professor in the UCD School of Biosystems & Food Engineering and has been teaching on sustainable biomass use and energy production since 2016. Her primary research interest focuses on understanding, quantifying and analysing complex environmental exchanges across the life cycle of products, processes and systems and, reciprocally, using this knowledge to better design bio and circular economies.

She is leading national and EU research on the development of sustainable bioeconomy technologies to generate additional value from wastes and co-products. She is Coordinating the AgRefine ITN, a Marie Skłodowska-Curie education, training and skills development programme rolling out the next generation of Agri Biorefinery and Valorisation Bioeconomy leaders. She is also driving bioeconomy education nationally as UCD Director of the MSc Bioeconomy with Business. A key element of Dr Murphy's work is to carry out industry relevant research, for example through the REAMIT Interreg project applying innovative technology to food supply chains in North West Europe to reduce food waste and improve resource efficiency.

[1] EC (2018) A sustainable bioeconomy for Europe. Strengthening the connection between economy, society and the environment: Updated bioeconomy strategy.

[2] Henchion, et al. (2017) Future protein supply and demand: Strategies and factors influencing a sustainable equilibrium. Foods, 6(7), 53.