Project Team

• Dr Helena McMahon – Director
• Dr Quentin Crowley – Partner Lead
• Prof Nick Holden – Partner Lead
• Prof Helen Sheridan – Natural Products Specialist
• Dr Sharon O’Rourke – Thematic Lead: Carbon & Sustainability
• Dr Rajat Nag – Lecturer/Assistant Professor in Carbon and Greenhouse Gas (GHG) Accounting
• Dr Subhash Chandra – Assistant Professor in Climate Innovation
• Dr Aodhan Newsholme – Lecturer in Circular Economy
• Dr Mary Anne Hurley – Assistant Lecturer in Circular Bioeconomy
• David Williamson – Industry Liaison Officer
• Zoe Rush – Community Outreach and Engagement Officer
• Jessica Dennison – Social Media Marketing Officer

Provide a short description of the project

Ireland’s Knowledge Centre for Carbon, Climate and Community Action (IKC3) project will build a national platform for co-development and co-delivery of knowledge and skills to support and enable enterprise and society to adapt and transition to decarbonized economy and embrace sustainable living as the new normal.

 

The consortium, led by Munster Technological University in collaboration with Trinity College Dublin, University College Dublin involves an extensive national and EU wide network of partners, including the European Institute of Innovation and Technology Climate-KIC, Sustainable Innovations Spain, European HEIs, companies, enterprise clusters, local government, civic and social innovators.

 

Delivery of a sustainable, circular, low carbon economy, which responds to the climate emergency is a national and global priority. Over the course of 3 years from April 2022 to 2025, the team will take a radical approach deploying a quintuple helix model of innovation to education, integrating state of the art pedagogies and learning pathways. Approaches include stackable micro-courses, summer schools, dual and collaborative learning via deep learning demonstrations, micro-credentials and digitization.

 

The platform that will emerge will deliver a step-change in agility with which Ireland’s higher education system can respond to the knowledge, skills and talent needs of society. It will present innovative scalable solutions for a teaching and learning experience that is flexible and personalized. It will promote professional development of students, community stakeholders, and those in the workplace to foster the transition to a carbon neutral society.

Pictured: IKC3 hosted the Smart Climate Kerry Climathon in November 2022.

Highlight interesting collaborations / partnerships

• Microsoft Dreamspace – Pilot Primary School Episode “Circular and Sustainable Food” rolled out in 10 schools in 2023
• Climate KIC – identifying skills gaps and needs, collaboration on Deep Demonstration and Turas Summer school 
• Haberdashery – Second Level design sprint on sustainable fashion
• Biobodies – Second Level innovation sprint based sustainable living and the use of biobased products for personal  products
• iWish – informing second level female students on STEM
• STEM Passport for Inclusion – mentoring female students from DEIS schools and encouraging them to choose a STEM course for further education
• National Co-ordinator for Bio-based Innovation Student Challenge Europe (BISC-E) – Biobased industries consortium EU level student innovation program.
• Guest Lecturers on Bioeconomy and Circular Economy programmes – John Brosnan -Bioeconomy Executive at ICOS, Tim Yeomans, Centre Manager for Shannon ABC, Stephen Rob, Biofuel Expert at Farmers Journal, Liz Gavin – EU Bioeconomy Funding Expert
• Biobec Project & University of Bologna: Sharing of best practice on program development and education platform design.

Pictured: Kerry Science Festival

Provide a brief summary of the project’s key enterprise engagements

• Hive Mind Workshop – Co-Developing Agile Tools for Skills Gap Analysis – On 23^rd September 2022 IKC3 held a community of practice workshop to co-create agile tools for skills gap analysis in order to develop modules & courses to enable enterprise & community reduce emissions by 51% by 2030 & get to net zero by 2050. The workshop enabled IKC3 to identify areas within the public sector, academia and industry to focus our skills gap analyses to understand what skills are important and which need to be further developed, across all parts of society, to rise to this challenge.
• Kerry Climathon at the RDI – IKC3 hosted the Smart Climate Kerry Climathon at the RDI Hub in Killorglin on Wednesday 23rd November 2022. Representatives from local industry, enterprise, council and community contributed great ideas and highlighted future skills and talent needs in the transition towards a zero carbon economy.
• Dublin Climathon: IKC3 hosted the Dublin Climathon October 2022. Representatives from local industry, enterprise, council and community contributed great ideas and highlighted future skills and talent needs in the transition of Dublin  towards a zero carbon economy.
• Scotland & Ireland Collaboration – High Value Bio-based Ingredients – This year, both Ireland and Scotland each hosted a ‘Bioeconomy Week’ in October to raise awareness of the strategic importance of the role of industrial biotechnology in our future bioeconomy. As part of Bioeconomy Week Ireland, IKC3 held a joint event with Circular Bioeconomy Cluster South-West, IBioIC and Biorbic which showcased presentations from a series of Scottish and Irish companies and focused on building connections and opportunities for collaboration to accelerate innovation and close the gaps to commercialisation.
• Kerry Organic Farmers Group Workshop – In February 2023 IKC3 teamed up with Teagasc to facilitate a ‘blue sky’ session with practical solutions with organic farmers and those considering converting to organic. Posing the question ‘What could the future look like for organic farming in the next few years – what is realistic and achievable?

Pictured: Kerry Organic Farmers Group Workshop

• Circuléire: Collaboration in 2023 on skills needs assessment and program development for member companies.
• IDA: Collaboration on Green Skills and access to international clusters and companies via IKC3 network.
• Spring Cluster: Opportunities for students to travel to Italy for site visit to Novamont – case study of best practice and information gathering on skills needs.
• BIM: Collaboration on Skills Needs and possible program development for marine sector.
• Circular Bioeconomy Cluster South West: Skills needs assessment, program promotion and spring cluster event participation.
• Regional Skills Forum South West & Mid West: Engagement on skills needs of member companies.
• Regional Enterprise Plan Committee membership: participation on skills, training and clustering.
• Rediscovery Centre: discussions kicked off on community skills needs and participation in Circular Hotspot 2023.

Pictured: Hive Mind Workshop – Co-Developing Agile Tools for Skills Gap Analysis

Project Showcase

Website: www.ikc3.ie

Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/company/ikc3-project/

X: @IKC3_Project

Instagram: @ikc3_project

Youtube: @ikc3_project

 

Last updated: November 2024