b'Case Study STRIVING FOR NET-ZERO THROUGH WASTEWATER TREATMENTSupporting the Next Generation of Scientific LeadersWastewater comes from water used in the home, in businesses and factories and from rain falling of roofs or the roads and pavements. It has up to 10 times more energy inside of it than the energy used to treat and clean it. Microbial Electrochemical Technologies (METs) can recover energy and resources from wastewater,Dr Theodosiou delivering an interactive workshop to engage including electricity, hydrogen, and ammonia. Microbialchildren with the world of Microbial Fuel Cells (MFCs). electrochemical biofilms produce a suit of technologies that could bring the water sector to Net-Zero by recoveringtechnologies within an engineering consultancy. I built electricity and value-added resources from wastewater.commercial awareness skills and collaborated with the Innovation team at RHDHV to develop the MET business University of Newcastle postdoctoral researcher, Dr Pavlinacase, which helped us identify a new commercial pathway Theodosiou is utilising these technologies to look at waysfor the technology.of turning sewage into electricity or hydrogen. Research to date using METs has seen Dr Theodosiou deliver low-costDr Theodosiou is passionate about science communication sanitation with self-generated lighting in Africa; produceand engaging girls with STEM activities in order to inspire power from urine at Glastonbury Festival and 3D-printand enthuse them about STEM careers and in the past has stackable microbial electrochemical reactors and controlrun a variety of public engagement activities. Through a them robotically. Within her team, they are currentlyrecent NBIC Public Engagement and Outreach grant she working on an NBIC Proof of Concept project that throughdelivered an interactive workshop series for schools to a combination of modelling it aims to optimise METs andenthuse, inspire, and engage children with the world of the production of hydrogen from wastewater.Microbial Fuel Cells (MFCs) and investigate the possibility of producing electricity from waste and powering up small Exposure to the industry can be a challenge for earlygadgets. The workshops received positive feedback from career researchers and learning to navigate the differentschools. Dr Theodosiou said,industry sectors can be invaluable. Through an NBIC FTMA industry secondment, Dr Theodosiou obtainedNBICs outreach funding, gave me the resources to build, hands-on experience and insight within the UK Watertrain and lead a team of future science communicators. We Industry. Working with the environmental consultancydelivered an inspiring and impactful STEM program and Royal Haskoning DHV, Dr Theodosiou gained the skills andengaged young minds with biofilms and environmental knowledge to undertake market research within waterengineering, all thanks to this funding.companies and develop a business case around METs. This enabled her to better understand the industrys demandsDr Theodosiou is currently taking part in the Biofilms and expectations and enable her team to package andICURe Sprint, delivered by SETsquared and NBIC. This develop MET systems to better suit these industry needs.is the first accelerated Innovation to Commercialisation Dr Theodosiou said, of University Research (ICURe) programme dedicated to commercialising biofilm innovations. This will enable Dr Through the FTMA I gained invaluable experienceTheodosiou and her team to get out of the lab and validate working on the business development side of emergingtheir commercially promising research over eight weeks.Dr Pavlina Theodosiou Dr Theodosiou is a postdoctoral research associate at Newcastle University, where she specialises in wastewater treatment innovations. Her research interests include Bioelectrochemical Systems, Microbial Fuel Cells, Microbial Electrolysis Cells, Thermodynamics and Biofilms. 43'