Fionn Ferreira

Speaker topics

Keeping a child-like mindset to combat challenges

Playing as an adult may seem silly, not productive or even a luxury. Fionn discusses how imaginative exploration enlarges our perception and understanding of the world. By drawing on experiences of invention and its link to the state of flow, Fionn will be sharing personal stories associating separate concepts in an unconventional way that have ultimately helped him design a new method for the removal of microplastic particles from water.

Plastics, circular economy and sustainability

Fionn discusses how bioplastics, recycling, re-use and microplastics all add complexity to the efforts to solve the plastics puzzle. He highlights the importance of circularity being designed into products from the beginning and how the plastic problem cannot be blamed on the consumer.

His experience as a World Economic Forum Global Plastic Action Partnership Plastic ActionChampion has given him insight into the steps we need to take in order to bring about the transition to a more sustainable world.

Re-inventing the wheel?

Fionn believes that creativity is what is key to coming up with exciting ideas. Sometimes ideas require re-inventing-the-wheel, or rethinking a fundamental concept by exploring creative outlets and using imagination to break the chains of what is "usual" and "has worked." Art can thus, equally as essential, broaden one’s perspective in science while still relying on the tried and true chemical formulas and numbers, opening doors for even more of those electrifying "Aha!" moments.

Educate to create

Fionn believes that one learns just as much from failed attempts as successful ones. This talk embodies the importance of not being afraid to try every idea, no matter how big or small. Fionn will discuss how he has embraced his failures, and how they have led him to where he is exactly now in his scientific career.

My Journey

It began with building and wiring the landscape around his train-set at five, which triggered the beginning of Fionn’s insatiable curiosity to take things apart, see how they worked, and reassemble them into unusual inventions. At seven he observed the rising amount of plastic pollution on the coastline where he lived. This bothered him enormously, and from that point on he began his journey to create inventions to combat the growing plastic pollution issue.

Cooking with science

In addition to chemistry, another one of Fionn’s passions is applying his knowledge of science to cooking. He will share gastronomic experiments and throw in a few mythbusters ultimately resulting in amazing gourmet meals. Prepare to be amazed as a whole wealth of knowledge is presented to you on food items and topics you may have never even raised an eyebrow at.

Stargazing and the science of the universe

Fionn spent a number of years curating the only planetarium in Ireland. He loves speaking about the vast universe and if there is life somewhere out there. Join Fionn as he discusses how space and the universe encourage him in his day to day work and ponder the beauty that is space.