MaREI Funded Investigator Stephen Dooley wins a highly prestigious European Research Council (ERC) Consolidator Awards.

The European Research Council (ERC) Consolidator Awards, announced annually and valued at €2 million each, go to emerging research leaders who are at the stage of growing their own independent research teams or programmes on the global stage.

Stephen Dooley a Funded Investigator in MaREI and Associate Professor of Energy Sciences in Trinity College Dublin, will pioneer fundamental research in the field of clean energy technologies with his project Mod-L-T: Models for Lignocellulose Thermochemical Conversion.

To achieve this however, chemicals, fuels and energy derived from lignocellulose must compete in technical quality and price with fossil-derived products and there is a relative dearth of knowledge in this area at present.

“Making materials and energy products from sustainable sources of plant matter, rather than fossil sources, is a key challenge towards decarbonising our economies. This project asks the question: ‘At the detailed molecular level, what is plant matter, and how do the details of its molecular structure influence what we can make from it?’

“By making detailed links between the plant matter’s chemical structure and its chemical reactivity, we will be able to make much more efficient use of it. This will facilitate the transition to a circular economy and a reduced reliance on fossil sources for chemicals, fuels, and energy.”
Stephen Dooley
Funded Investigator in MaREI and Associate Professor of Energy Sciences in Trinity College Dublin

All MaREI Team Members
Stephen Dooley
Funded Investigator