Dr Sinéad Mitchell
Lecturer in Sustainability and Strategy; Programme Director of MSc in Management and Sustainability
J.E. Cairnes School of Business and Economics, University of Galway
Sinéad teaches across various programmes and she draws on her rich background of working with industry as an engineer, business consultant and researcher in sustainable engineering. She has experience of healthcare manufacturing and social enterprise development. The value of sustainability links most of her work and her teaching is informed by her research. She believes that the problems of the world are not solved from just one perspective and actively pursues inter-disciplinary and cross-disciplinary activities as well as engaging with the wider community.
"I bring the real world into the classroom"
"One of the core threads that I have brought into the classroom is sustainability and this is relevant in every course and module"
Sinéad's work contributes to these SDGs
She is a member of the Ryan Institute and is a PI in the Advanced Sustainable Manufacturing Materials Engineering Research Group. Sinéad has participated in a number of funded projects including on EPA Green Business Programmes, Pobal, Enterprise Ireland Disruptive Technology Innovation Funds and European projects, working with many different educational institutions and companies across Europe. Her principal research interests include sustainability, sustainable enterprise and eco-innovation, sustainable manufacturing, advanced manufacturing, circular economy, and lifecycle assessment.
Key Target: 12.2 Sustainable management and use of natural resources
Sinéad's current sustainability projects include: Irish Research Council Scholar Cherrelle Johnson, who is investigating the Sustainability of Bioplastics.
FreeForm Optix is an Enterprise Ireland DTIF project, in collaboration with Mbryonics and EireComposites, both Galway-based specialist manufacturers, designing and making critical components for space exploration. This project is investigating the sustainability through lifecycle assessment, working with colleagues in Engineering, as well as Irish Manufacturing Research.
MiDrone is a DTIF project in collaboration with EireComposites and MannaAero, assessing the sustainability of last-mile delivery drones.
SustaInAdMan is a novel project to develop a framework for sustainable innovation through advanced manufacturing techniques by Funded Investigators with i-Form, Science Foundation Ireland’s (SFI) research centre for advanced manufacturing.
She has integrated her work with community organisations such as An Mheitheal Rothar, and engages students in alignment with an Environmental Protection Agency Green Business Project - Circular Bikes, investigating remanufacturing in a cooperative community bike shop. .
Teaching
Sinéad's teaching and learning philosophy is to inspire students to change the world for the better, to see the world from a global worldview, and to engage with a systems approach. She believes that learners can use their skills, knowledge and aspirations to create a better future and address global challenges. She believes education must present the critical roles that leaders play when making decisions about how the world is constructed, including design, manufacturing, material choices, value chains and procurement practices, and how all these aspects can be done better as a global citizen.
MG5155 Sustainability Measurement: An Introduction to Life Cycle Management & Assessment
It is a module that is suitable across many disciplines. It is delivered with the School of Engineering, providing the tools to measure sustainability, and helps people to understand what impact a service, product or organisation has.
Focusing on Target 12.2 Sustainable management and use of natural resources, Target 12.4 Responsible management of chemicals and waste, Target 12.5 Substantially reduce waste generation, Target 12.6 Encourage companies to adopt sustainable practices and sustainability reporting
Sinéad aims to instil the principles of universal design for learning and being part of the open scholarly community. She works with respect with all students to contribute through empathy, compassion and understanding of our campus community.
MG5144 Sustainable Innovation
Many problems that face us today can't be solved by doing things in isolation. Systems thinking helps students to build mental models, work in teams, create shared visions and think about unanticipated consequences, as well as helping to develop personal mastery in any subject. The module supports participants to learn how to lead the innovation of sustainable solutions and sustainable business models. Based on an understanding of the SDGs and planetary boundaries, they will develop systems-thinking approaches to investigate the technological, social and organisational aspects of sustainable innovation.
It will involve working collaboratively on real-world innovation challenges from a strategic to an operational level of an organisation with an ethical perspective. Various theories, concepts and frameworks will be examined to equip participants to better lead and manage the design and implementation of sustainable innovation. Key concepts will be introduced such as circular economy, lifecycle thinking and design thinking.
In the final-year capstone projects, Sinéad has set challenges for students to redesign everyday items, with a particular focus on healthcare products. Students really engage with the process of redesign, and are exposed to the simple choices that can make a difference, as well as the complexity of measuring the environmental impacts of products and services.
Focusing on Target 11.B Implement policies for inclusion, resource efficiency and disaster risk reduction; Target 12.1 Implement the 10-year Sustainable Consumption and Production Framework, Target 12.2 Sustainable management and use of natural resources
Engagement
Many of the SDGs are interrelated and it is important to think of the bigger system. Sinéad brings guest speakers in who can tell a good story about themselves and their experiences, which helps students in the class relate to the material covered.
Sinéad also runs a Circular Economy workshop with students and challenges them to create something from waste material into a product that can be sold in the shop. Students work on different concepts and designs and draw them up, following which the social enterprise manager comes back into the class and picks the best one.
One of Sinéad's students looked at developing a remanufacturing process for the bike shop.
In a major assignment that focuses on project planning, Sinéad's students collaborate with local social enterprises, e.g., An Mheitheal Rothar, to develop a unique project plan to solve a social problem
Direct impact SDG Targets
Target 4.7 - Education for sustainable development and global citizenship
Target: 8.1 - Sustainable economic growth
Target: 8.2 - Diversify, innovate and upgrade for economic productivity
Target: 9.2 - Promote inclusive and sustainable industrialization
Target 11.B - Implement policies for inclusion, resource efficiency and disaster risk reduction
Target: 12.1 - Implement the 10-year Sustainable Consumption and Production Framework
Target: 12.2 - Sustainable management and use of natural resources
Target: 12.4 - Responsible management of chemicals and waste
Target: 12.5 - Substantially reduce waste generation
Target: 12.6 - Encourage companies to adopt sustainable practices and sustainability reporting
Target: 13.B - Promote mechanisms to raise capacity for planning and management
Target 17.6 - Knowledge sharing and cooperation for access to science, technology and innovation
Target: 17.17 - Encourage effective partnerships
Target: 17.19 - Further develop measurements of progress
Research
Featured Publications
Understanding of responsible consumption and production is becoming increasingly important due to new reporting requirements. An important element of Sinéad's research has been the development of a framework to engage with manufacturing SMEs on sustainability and eco innovation. Much of her research examines the impacts of organisational approaches, products or services and ways to improve these.
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References |
SDGs |
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Mitchell, S., Steinbach, J., Flanagan, T. and 5 more (...) (2022). Evaluating the sustainability of lightweight drones for deliver: Towards a suitable methodology for assessment. ECCM 2022 - Proceedings of the 20th European Conference on Composite Materials: Composites Meet Sustainability, 6355-6362. |
9; 12 |
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Sam-Daliri, O., Ghabezi, P., Flanagan, T. and 3 more (...) (2022). Recovery of Particle Reinforced Composite 3D Printing Filament from Recycled Industrial Polypropylene and Glass Fibre Waste. Proceedings of the World Congress on Mechanical, Chemical, and Material Engineering. |
7; 9; 12 |
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Mitchell, S., O’Dowd, P., Dimache, A. (2011). The issue of waste in European manufacturing SMEs. In Proceedings of the 13th international waste management and landfill symposium, S. Margherita di Pula (Cagliari). |
12.4, 12.5; 9.3; 15.0 |
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Gaberščik, C., Mitchell, S., Fayne, A. (2020). September. Saving lives and saving the planet: The readiness of Ireland’s healthcare manufacturing sector for the circular economy. In Sustainable Design and Manufacturing 2020: Proceedings of the 7th International Conference on Sustainable Design and Manufacturing (KES-SDM 2020) (205-214). Singapore: Springer Singapore. |
12.2, 12.4; 13.0, 13.1; 9.5; 17.6; 8.4 |