Head of Environmental Health and Safety Management

Email: christine.oconnor@tudublin.ie

Tel: (+353) 2205667

FRSC, B.Sc. (Hons) Chemistry, PhD Chemistry, M.Sc. in Pharmaceutical Quality Assurance, M.Sc. in E Learning, PG Dip in Third Level Learning and Teaching.

Profile

Prof Christine O’Connor completed her PhD with Prof Han Vos in Dublin City University in 1999. On completion of her PhD Christine managed an analytical EU CRAFT project titled ‘Experimental validation of a novel multipurpose ‌distillation technology’ in Dublin Institute of Technology (DIT) with Dr John Fox. From 2000 to 2004 she became an Assistant Lecturer in the School of Chemical and Pharmaceutical Sciences, DIT. Christine was a Lecturer in the School of Chemical and Pharmaceutical Sciences from 2004-2014. She and her colleague Dr Claire McDonnell were awarded a commendation for the DIT Presidents Teaching Excellence Award in 2005. She was a founding member of the DIT Chemistry Education Research Team (CERT) and this team won two national awards (i) National Academy for the integration of Research, Teaching and Learning (NAIRTL) Teaching Excellence Award in 2009 and (ii) the DELTA National third level teaching award in 2018. Christine was appointed Assistant Head of School of Food Science and Environmental Health, DIT in 2014. She received an Honorary Professorship from Dublin Institute of Technology in 2018. She is a Fellow of the Royal Society of Chemistry (RSC) since 2020. Christine is an active researcher in the areas of inorganic/ bioinorganic chemistry, waste valorisation and bioactive analysis, and trace chemical analysis in food products. She has also a depth of experience in curriculum design and has been working with developing countries on course design at undergraduate and postgraduate third level Universities. Christine is the Treasurer of the RSC Educational Committee of Ireland and Member of the RSC Ireland Steering Group. Christine is a member of the Royal Irish Academy Physical, Chemical and Mathematical Sciences Committee.   

LinkedIn Profile: https://www.linkedin.com/in/prof-christine-o-connor-1857a823/

Academic Interests

• Technology enhanced learning, teaching and assessment.
• Course development, curriculum design, validation and implementation.
• Curriculum Design for Developing Countries
• Industry relationship building. Embedding industry into programmes and research.
• Teaching on modules such as: spectroscopy, instrumentation, medicinal chemistry, drug delivery.
• Final year project research and linking to current postgraduate research.
• Context based learning: RSC Learn Chemistry Resources http://www.rsc.org/learnchemistry

Research Interests

Arrow open access: http://tinyurl.com/yyhyoyh4
Researchgate: https://www.researchgate.net/profile/Christine_Oconnor7
ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0001-9453-2427
Scopus: http://www.scopus.com/authid/detail.url?authorId=7202906810

Themes of research

1. Inorganic/ Bioinorganic Chemistry/ Targeted Therapies, Drug delivery
2. Waste Valorisation and Bioactive Analysis, and
3. Trace Chemical Analysis in Food Processing.

Current and Past Postgraduate Students

Dr Diako Khodaei, Post doctoral researcher, Novel Nitrate/Nitrite Reduced and Nitrate/Nitrite Free Meats: Safety, Quality and Shelf-life, FIRM Funded, commenced April 2023.

Laura Dowling, Principle component analysis of Whiskey products by Spectroscopic and Analytical Techniques, Supervisors Christine O’Connor and Dr Pierrick Fevrier, commenced MPhil September 2022.

Thomas Kelly, Whiskey Authentication, Teagasc Walsh Fellowship, Teagasc Moorepark, Supervisors Kieran Kilcawley and Christine O’Connor, commenced January 2022.

Eoin Barrett, Cold Plasma Pre-Treatment of Novel Ruthenium Complexes to Selectively Eradicate Multidrug Resistant Bacteria, Supervisors Alan Casey and Christine O’Connor, commenced December 2021.

Chioke Okolo, Building an Irish Brand: Whiskey Profiling for Product Development, Quality Control and Authenticity, IRC Scholarship, Supervisor Christine O’Connor, commenced October 2021.

Saba Queryshi, Drug delivery of Metal based Chemotherapeutics, TU Dublin Scholarship, Supervisors Christine O’Connor, Alan Casey, James Curtin and Furong Tian, commenced March 2021.

Xinyi Zhao, Developing Gold Nanoparticle strips for the detection of mycotoxins, TU Dublin Scholarship, Supervisors Furong Tian, James Curtin and Christine O’Connor, commenced March 2021.

Sridevi Bindiganavile Ranganath, Therapeutic Evaluation of Plant Based Bioactives, Self-funded, Supervisors Christine O’Connor and Alan Casey, October 2020.

Abhijit Wickramasinghe, Zeolite based transition metal complex host-guest materials for photocatalysis applications, TU Dublin Scholarship, Supervisors Gavin Sewell and Christine O’Connor (Advisory), commenced October 2020.

Bradley Afanda, Research on Inorganic and Organic Nitrogen Compounds in Prepared Consumer Foods, Teagasc Walsh Fellowship, Teagasc Ashtown, Supervisors Martin Danaher and Christine O’Connor, commenced October 2020.

Lewis More O’Ferrall, Next Generation bismuth compounds to combat antibacterial resistance, TU Dublin Scholarship. Supervisors Christine O’Connor and Darren Griffith (Royal College of Surgeons Ireland), commenced December 2019.

Dr William McCarthy, PHD, 2023. Understanding the Entry, Partition, and Fate of Chlorates in Dairy Processes, Teagasc Walsh Fellowship, Teagasc Moorepark, Supervisors John Tobin and Christine O’Connor.

Dr Fionn O’Fearghall, PhD, 2021. BlueShell, Marine Biotechnology ERA-NET, Collaborators: Christine O’Connor, Michelle Giltrap, Patrice Behan & EU partners.

Dr Qasim Mushtaq Warraich, PhD, 2021.Targeted delivery and UV activation of novel ruthenium-based chemotherapeutics, Supervisors Christine O’Connor and Alan Casey.

Dr Alessandra Ghion, PhD, 2020. Development and evaluation of novel antibacterial coatings, Supervisors Christine O’Connor and Alan Casey.

Dr Laura Perdisatt, PhD, 2014.Spectroscopic Structure Property Relationships for Therapeutic Complexes. Supervisors Christine O’Connor and Luke O’Neill.

Dr Samar Moqadasi, PhD, 2012.Development of novel Ruthenium (II) complexes for applications as therapeutic drugs. Supervisor Christine O’Connor.

Dr Zlata Tofzikovskaya, PhD, 2012. Novel Drug Delivery Systems for Cancer Therapy. Supervisors Christine O’Connor and Mary McNamara.

Mr Antonio Clementi, MPhil, 2009. Design and Development of Drug Delivery Vehicles. Supervisors Christine O’Connor and Mary McNamara.

Current Collaborations

• Dr Patrice Behan, Dr Gavin Sewell and Dr Sarah Rawe, School of Chemical and Pharmaceutical Sciences, Technological University Dublin
• Dr Alan Casey and Prof Gordon Chambers, School of Clinical and Optometric and Physical Sciences, Technological University Dublin
• Dr Martin Danaher and Dr Declan Bolton, Teagasc, Ashtown
• Dr Darren Griffith, Royal College of Surgeons Ireland
• Dr Pierrick Fevrier, Statelab.
• Prof Mary McNamara, Graduate Research School, Technological University Dublin. · Dr Luke O’Neill, FOCAS Research Institute, Technological University Dublin
• Dr Furong Tian, Dr Tao Zhang, Prof James Curtin, Dr Barry Ryan, Dr Michelle Giltrap, School of Food Science and Environmental Health, TU Dublin.
• Dr John Tobin and Prof Kieran Kilcawley, Teagasc, Moorepark
• FP7 ERA Net BlueShell consortium