The Institute’s Centre for Freshwater and Environmental Studies (CFES) coordinates the MANTEL ITN, a €3.1M EU project which is training twelve researchers to study the effects of storms and other climatic extremes on water quality in lakes and reservoirs.  

A group of 12 PhD students from across Europe, including three from Dundalk Institute of Technology (DkIT), have produced a set of educational videos on lakes for schools during the COVID-19 lockdown.

The new videos, all in English, are aimed at 12-14 year olds, and three have been made by Harriet Wilson, Alexa Hoke and Truls Hannson.  Building on their research and using only the resources that they had in their houses and apartments during the lockdown, the MANTEL ITN postgraduates made short (5-6 minute) videos on lake physics, lake chemistry and lake biology.  The videos are being released on a YouTube channel, MANTEL Pieces, and through the MANTEL website. The draft videos were reviewed by a group of young volunteer critics who gave anonymous and tough feedback through the coordinator.

MANTEL ‘Management of Climatic Extreme Events in Lakes and Reservoirs for the Protection of Ecosystem Services’ is an EU-funded Innovative Training Network managed by the Centre for Freshwater and Environmental Studies (CFES) at DkIT. Climatic extremes such as storms and heat waves are becoming more frequent in Ireland and Western Europe, a trend that has been linked to climate change and increased global warming. Understanding the impacts of these climatic extremes is important because of the negative impacts they can have on the services that lakes and reservoirs provide for society, in particular provision of safe water for drinking and recreational use, and economic benefits such as fisheries and tourism.

DkIT is working with European Institutions including the Catalan Institute for Water Research, Estonian University of Life Sciences, Leibnitz Institute of Freshwater Ecology and Inland Fisheries, Netherlands Institute of Ecology, University of Barcelona, University of Geneva and Uppsala University. The young researchers who are part of this programme have also had the opportunity to be hosted by partner institute in the UK, Norway, Netherlands, Spain, and France, including partners from the water management sector.

For more information on MANTEL project and research opportunities at CFES at DkIT please visit: https://www.mantel-itn.org/