Periodic Reporting for period 1 - IONIC BARRIER (pH-driven ionic barrier-based techniques to recover precious metals from urban mines)
Periodo di rendicontazione: 2022-02-01 al 2024-01-31
The project has been actively promoted through workshops, seminars, conferences, journal article publications, and social media posts. The workshops and seminars are mainly done across different units within the host institution and partners. The researcher has an active presence on social media platforms, such as LinkedIn, Facebook, and X (formerly Twitter), where he engages with the public and share highlights of the project, its results and other activities relating to the project. The researcher has participated in five conferences and presented various aspects of the project results and the evolving innovations in the field. The researcher has published one research and two review articles as first author in direct relation to the project (all open access), and several other papers during the fellowship. These articles are available on the academic webpages of the researcher, e.g. Google Scholar and ResearchGate, as well as the host university library. For every article published, it is announced and shared on social media with hashtags of the project acronym, keywords, the EU, and MSCA. The researcher granted an interview to the Horizon Magazine EU where he spoke extensively about the project and its goals. The interview titled, “To secure raw materials, Europe turns to recycling” and edited by Tom Cassauwers was published in November 2023. The researcher also featured in the famous MSCA-IF fellow of the week series for the month of October 2023, where he also provided some information about the project.
This project holds significant social importance owing to its potential to address pressing environmental and public health issues related to pollution. It supports the effort toward environmental sustainability and carbon neutrality through circularity of e-wastes, potentially fulfilling some of the United Nation's Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), especially SDGs 3 and 6. Particularly, the social significance of the project includes promotion of public health, environmental conservation, opportunities for local and EU regional businesses including NGOs that are focused on environmental protection activities. The international significance includes technological innovation and advancement, fostering of international collaboration. Finally, dissemination of the knowledge generated from the project can promote global adoption of sustainable waste treatment practices, foster international collaboration and shape policy making.