Spotlight On Students – Sustainability Stories that Inspire

Eleanor Mullen

Eleanor Mullen is a researcher based at Trinity’s AMBER Centre (Advanced Materials and BioEngineering Research) and will soon complete her PhD. Her research looks at environmental impacts of chemical use in electronics and has garnered the attention of some big names in industry.  However, it was her work in founding the Trinity Urban Garden that brings us to feature her. 

Eleanor says she was inspired by nature from a very young age and driven to protect it. As a child, she played in woods that served an essential ecological purpose as a buffer zone to Killarney National Park, Ireland’s largest native woodlands.  She was shocked to see planning permission notices stapled to some of her favourite trees near where badgers nested.  Locals objected to development here for years. When she was seven, she joined them by writing to then Taoiseach Bertie Ahearn to ask the government to protect the buffer zone.  She was told they would protect the area, however when she returned in 2019 the woods she played in as a child were gone, along with the badgers. The area was replaced with a housing development site.  This has furthered her interest in raising public awareness of environmental issues.

Her resolve to protect nature was strengthened while working in Honduras. The experience broadened her understanding of how each species of plant supports different ecosystems.  Eleanor says ‘plants are more than food- they are an entire ecosystem that supports creatures that support us. When you are making decisions based purely on economic value and not ecological value- there will be adverse effects.’ 

 Eleanor founded the Trinity Urban Garden last summer, which was no small feat in a busy city centre campus.  She said initially it was a challenge to get the project going, but she thought ‘if I don’t try I’ll never know.’  Fast-forward just a year later and she has seen almost 300 students and staff from all corners of campus sign up and contribute to the garden, coming up with engaging events such as the plant swap shop and flower pressing.  Some volunteers have gone from having no idea of how to start to becoming passionate sustainable gardeners.  The garden itself is a small space, but it’s playing a big role as a place of learning, gathering, and spreading a sustainable message.

 Eleanor has some advice for us at-home gardeners looking to start.  She says to note where the light is best and consider how you will get compost to the area.  Consider a balcony composter or making your own compost as the plants do better with good, peat-free compost. Freecycle your gardening supplies so you aren’t creating more plastic waste.

Soon to be Dr Mullen is optimistic about both the future of the garden and her research.  She has witnessed the garden metaphor play out on campus – from seedlings of an idea growing into flowers and food - she is creating the future she wants to see.  Eleanor recently presented her paper to the Next G Alliance Group and has seen great interest from companies as well as academics. Here, you can read Eleanor’s paper, 'Green Nanofabrication Opportunities in the Semiconductor Industry: A Life Cycle Perspective' and find information on Trinity Urban Garden.