Online opportunity to explore the potential of natural products in advancing sustainable practices

Posted on: 14 October 2024

Are you curious to understand how plants, seaweeds and other natural sources provide us with innovative solutions? Do you wish to know more about their role in society and their impact on health and the global transition to the bioeconomy?

Bioeconomy Ireland Week 2024 sees the launch of a new online course by NatPro, the Trinity Centre for Natural Products Research, based at the School of Pharmacy and Pharmaceutical Sciences, together with IKC3, Ireland’s Knowledge Centre for Carbon, Climate and Community Action. This Massive Open Online Course (MOOC) titled ‘Natural Products: Harnessing Nature’s Resources for a Better World’ is designed to educate and inspire individuals across all backgrounds to explore the incredible potential of natural products and their central role in advancing sustainable practices.

Humans have always harnessed nature’s power, for food, for materials and for health.  But today science allows us to understand more, probe deeper and innovate further. Course participants will journey through the world of natural products, uncovering how compounds and materials from plants, microbes and other biological resources are harnessed for vast applications in our lives and in industry. They will explore how discoveries are made in natural products and what are the opportunities and challenges in the sector, emphasizing the critical importance of the interconnection of natural products with biodiversity and ecosystem health.  

Today, as the bioeconomy is growing, the role and impact of natural products is expanding. The circular bioeconomy focuses on the use of renewable sustainable biological resources from land and sea and converting these resources and their processing by-products into value-added biobased products.

Professor Helen Sheridan, Founder and Academic Director of NatPro and IKC3’s Natural Products Specialist, said:

“This online learning course is a timely contribution on the topic of Natural Products as their role in societies for use in healthcare, as foodstuffs and materials is growing exponentially as we address the need for biobased solutions to mitigate the global challenge of climate change.”

Our well-being and progress are connected to the well-being of the natural world. Addressing climate change and halting biodiversity loss are essential actions to safeguard our future. We need to move forward in a more sustainable way reducing our reliance on fossil fuels and petroleum-based chemicals.

Dr Maria Pigott, Head of Science at NatPro and Course Coordinator of Natural Products: Harnessing Nature’s Resources for a Better World, said:

“This new educational resource is a unique opportunity to explore the natural product world. We are delighted to bring this course on Natural Products together with IKC3 and hope that course participants enjoy it and truly benefit from seeing how natural products are interconnected with our well-being and the well-being of our communities, economies and environment.”

IKC3 is a collaboration between Trinity College Dublin, University College Dublin and Munster Technological University, funded by the Government of Ireland, HEA and HCI. It provides education for the transition to a low carbon economy, equipping enterprise and society to adapt to sustainable living as the new normal and embrace it. Natural products are part of the solution to these global challenges, helping us protect the environment, while also supporting economic development, health and social equity. This is a huge opportunity for natural products and is driving innovation in the sector.

Enroll now at the following link: Join the course here

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