On the 23rd May 2018, a group of 26 young students (13-16 years old) from Escola Secundária Dr. Joaquim Gomes Ferreira Alves (ESDJGFA) visited the Associate Laboratory LSRE-LCM, invited and guided by Dr. Rita Ruivo Marques and Professor Joaquim Faria, with the support of Dr. Carla Orge and the PhD students Marta Barbosa and Nuno Moreira, at the laboratories.

This activity is part of the work developed by Dr. Rita Marques at ESDJGFA, with a group of 180 students from the 7th-9th grades, within the scope of her Post-Doctoral Project entitled Water Circle (WC), in collaboration with the Centre for Research and Intervention in Education (CIIE), with the co-supervision of Professor Isabel Menezes. The Water Circle is a joint project between the Faculty of Engineering (FEUP) and the Faculty of Psychology and Educational Sciences (FPCEUP) of the University of Porto, consisting of an educational intervention in school context, dedicated to knowledge transfer and dissemination in the domain of water management and efficient usage.

During classroom sessions in the school, it was discussed with the students the problem boarded at one of LSRE-LCM’s recent publications on Advanced Oxidation Processes for catalytic water treatment to remove pharmaceutical contaminants (N.F.F. Moreira, C.A. Orge, A.R. Ribeiro, J.L. Faria, O.C. Nunes, M.F.R. Pereira, A.M.T. Silva. Fast mineralization and detoxification of amoxicillin and diclofenac by photocatalytic ozonation and application to an urban wastewater. Water Research, 87, 87-96, 2015).

The purpose of this visit was to show to the young students the work developed in this scope, since they can use this experience to discuss their proposals with specialists at the Fórum InvestigAmbiental2018, the final activity of the WC project for the current scholar year, that took place at their school on the 30th of May 2018. The guest speakers on this forum were from different spheres: Dr. Pedro Morais, member of the national political commission of the ecologist political party Pessoas-Animais-Natureza (PAN);  Arq. Valentim Miranda, the Environmental Councilor at Câmara Municipal de Vila Nova de Gaia; Dr. Miguel Lemos, the Executive Administrator of Águas Municipais de Gaia (Municipal WWTP); Eng. Marta Barbosa and Eng. Nuno Moreira, scientific researchers on water monitorization and remediation at LSRE-LCM (FEUP); Dr. Pedro Castro, Vice-President of the Parent’s Association of the Schools in Valadares (APEVA); Dr. Álvaro Santos, the ESDJGFA School Principal.

The events’ coverage was carried out by the local and national press, for the newspapers O Gaiense and Público, respectively.

LA LSRE-LCM wishes sucess to this project!

See the complete news about Fórum InvestigAmbiental2018 in the national press at Público:
https://www.publico.pt/2018/06/01/sociedade/reportagem/eles-sabem-como-salvar-a-agua-um-ecoponto-para-remedios-uma-lei-para-novos-poluentes-1832792

And at Notícias Universidade do Porto:
https://noticias.up.pt/investigadora-da-u-porto-ensina-jovens-a-gerir-melhor-a-agua/

Lucília Ribeiro has received the Portuguese Young Chemists Award - PYCA 2018 for her PhD thesis entitled Catalytic conversion of lignocellulosic biomass by hydrolytic hydrogenation, supervised by Fernando Pereira, co-supervised by José Órfão and developed at Associate Laboratory LSRE-LCM.

The Portuguese Young Chemists Award (PYCA) attributed by the Group of Young Chemists (GQJ) of the Portuguese Chemical Society (SPQ) aims to promote excellence in Chemistry developed by young researchers, with particular focus on the scientific impact on the Society. The prize is awarded every two years, to recent doctors with less than 35 years and laureates the work done during their PhD. It is opened to Portuguese or foreigner young researchers that received his/her PhD degree in any field of the chemical sciences from a Portuguese University between January 2016 and December 2017.

This 5th edition of the Award PYCA 2018 comprises a monetary prize and a certificate, kindly sponsored by ChemPubSoc Europe (Wiley-VCH) and a scientific book, kindly sponsored by Gradiva Editora. It was delivered to Lucília Ribeiro at the 6th Portuguese Young Chemists Meeting (6th PYCheM), held in Setúbal on May 15-18, 2018.

Lucilia is currently a Postdoctoral Researcher at LSRE-LCM working on the area of synthesis of fine chemical products with high-value from the catalytic conversion lignocellulosic biomass.

LA LSRE-LCM congratulates Lucília for this important scientific recognition for her research work!

More information at: http://www.spq.pt/news/617