Joe Awards, Conferences, Presentations

Lindau Online Science Days

The Lindau-Nobel Laureate Online Science Days event was hosted online to replace the annual meeting on the island of Lindau in Germany, as a result of the Coronavirus crisis. Those who were scheduled to attend this year’s Interdisciplinary Meeting were invited, as were attendees of previous Lindau meetings. The result was an engaging programme of events over three 12-hour days (in order to accommodate people in various time zones). Topics included diversity in the sciences, climate change, the economic impact of the pandemic, and green chemistry, among many others.

Joe asking Nobel Laureate Prof. Noyori about different solvents used in ‘green’ catalysis.

Joe had the chance to engage directly with Prof. Ryoji Noyori about questions of homogeneous organometallic catalysis – a topic he investigated during his postdoc in University of Bern – and solvent choice for green chemistry. This direct communication with Nobel laureates went on all through the event and was a unique opportunity.

On Wednesday, the top-ranked projects from the “Implementing the Lindau Guidelines” category of the Sciathon contest were invited to present their projects on the main stage and look for further support. Joe and Natalia Jiménez (University of Chile) represented Team Elmiger, and won the 3rd place prize. Watch the Sciathon Results presentation here: https://www.mediatheque.lindau-nobel.org/videos/38750/2020-osd-sciathon-results-lindau-guidelines/meeting-2020

Joe and Natalia Jiménez presenting their Sciathon project results on the Science Days Main Stage

Hopefully, the scheduled 70th Lindau-Nobel Laureate Meeting will take place in 2021 and there will be a chance to attend in person.

Read the Lindau-Nobel blog entry on the “Implementing the Lindau Guidelines” Category.

Joe Presentations

CÚRAM Centre Webinar

Joe was invited to present an online seminar by Prof Abhay Pandit, the Director of the CÚRAM Centre for Medical Device Research. Prof Pandit is one of the collaborators from CÚRAM involved in the group’s SIRG project. Joe gave a presentation titled: “Sweetness and light: a journey towards diagnostic tools based on luminescent glycoclusters”, where he explained to a multidisciplinary audience how his prior research interests led towards the current research programme that the Byrne Group is investigating. There was some good discussion after the seminar.

Joe Presentations

Joe speaks at festive RSC Coordination and Organometallic Discussion Group Christmas Meeting

At the annual RSC Coordination and Organometallic Discussion Group Christmas meeting (UCD Dublin), everyone was asked to select an element as the focus of their talk, to celebrate the end of the International Year of the Periodic Table. Joe gave a talk celebrating the versatility of ruthenium complexes. The talk brought together two different project, linked by this transition metal.

  • Joe with his PhD supervisor Thorri and Dawn Barry
  • IYPT presents for attendees

He spoke about the carbohydrate-functionalised Ru-NHC catalysts which were published recently in Dalton Transactions, as well as some Ru(II) coordination complexes (also featuring carbohydrates) which have shown antimicrobial activity (unpublished results, collaboration with Prof Thorri Gunnlaugsson and Dr Ciaran O’Reilly).

It was a very festive meeting, with inorganic chemists from all over Ireland and the UK in attendance – a great chance to catch up with old friends and new.

Joe Conferences, Presentations

Swiss Chemical Society Fall Meeting

Joe presented a poster at the SCS Fall Meeting in Zurich. The poster described recent work involving metal-centred glycoclusters, tageting carbohydrate-lectin interactions. It was a good opportunity to stay connected with Swiss colleagues from his postdoctoral work in University of Bern, as well as present new research in an international setting.

Afterwards, Joe had some meetings in University of Bern before returning to Galway.

Joe Conferences, Presentations

44th Institute of Chemistry Ireland Congress at Maynooth

Joe was invited to give a flash presentation at the ICI’s annual congress in Maynooth University, organised by Dr Rob Elmes.

The title of his talk was “Carbohydrate-functionalisation – enhancing catalytic activity and potential for sensor design”, and he spoke about his work from his postdoctoral research in University of Bern, along with preliminary results from his new project in NUI Galway. The Congress was a great opportunity to engage with chemistry researchers from around Ireland, including old colleagues.