July University leads on lab sustainability education

A new micro-credential course to encourage sustainability in the medtech, pharma and public sector in Ireland has been launched at University of Galway.

 The Green Labs initiative has been spearheaded since 2019 by Dr Una FitzGerald, Associate Professor of Biomedical Engineering in the School of Engineering and a Principal Investigator within CÚRAM, the Research Ireland Centre for Medical Devices.

 The new 10-week microcredential programme is aimed at Ireland’s extensive laboratory industry, including medtech and pharma, healthcare and science and the research sector and builds on the success and impact of the Green Labs initiative, which aims to reduce the environmental impact of laboratory practices.

 Dr Una FitzGerald said: “Once I took on board the considerable contribution that sustainable lab practices can make to global efforts to reduce GHGs and different kinds of waste, I felt compelled to act, because I supervise and teach many different cohorts of students. I feel I have a duty to do all possible to mitigate the climate and biodiversity crisis and feel fortunate that I am in a position to help.

 “As Ireland’s medtech and pharma sectors continue to grow, so too does the responsibility to operate in an environmentally sustainable fashion. Laboratory testing is a crucial part of operations in these organisations, as well as for hospital and environmental testing - just think of how many lab tests are require to diagnose disease or to prove that the water you are drinking is safe. Medical device manufacturers also need lab tests to prove that implantable devices are sterile, and pharma companies use labs characterise the properties of drugs.”

 The green labs journey commenced in 2019 with CÚRAM becoming the first laboratory in Europe certified as ‘Green’ by American non-profit, My Green Lab. Meeting this standard required raising awareness of the impact of lab work on the environment and prompted efforts to reduce plastic waste, energy and water usage and adopt green principles of synthetic and analytic chemistry.

 One fact learned was that a single ultra-low temperature freezer, used to store lab samples, uses as much energy as the average household.

 In 2020, Dr FitzGerald developed a course module for postgraduates on green lab principles and practice, which more than 170 students have taken to date, including online at universities in England, Scotland, Germany and Denmark.

 On Earth Day in 2022, Irish Green Labs (IGL) was launched by Dr Fitzgerald, in collaboration with Sustainable Energy Association of Ireland and Dublin City University to promote sustainable methods within public and private laboratories on the whole island of Ireland.

 The new online microcredential programme Green Labs Principles and Practice, will go further to address the lack of awareness of the impact that lab practices and behaviours have on the environment.

 Employees in corporate and public sector are being targeted through this course and the first 20 places are funded through Springboard. The first students enrol in September.

 Microcredential courses are short and accredited to meet the demands of learners, enterprise and organisations, created by Irish Universities Association (IUA) partner universities in consultation with industry and enterprise, under the MicroCreds project.

 Green Labs Principles and Practice will allow employees to examine how the organisation of, and practices in, scientific laboratories can be reformed to reduce their environmental footprint and be established on a more sustainable basis.

 The Irish Green Labs network is run on a voluntary basis, supporting more than 37 organisations within the public and private sectors, including all the higher education institutes, the Environmental Protection Agency, 10 hospitals and seven companies.

Dr Fitzgerald’s work in this area ultimately led to inclusion of sustainable lab practices in Taighde Eireann/Research Ireland’s Climate Action Strategy and an addition of Green Labortatories as a subtheme to An Taisce’s Green-Campus Programme.

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