DCU Expo 2024 - Final Year Projects

67 111. An Evaluation of the Constraints to Creating a Circular Economy for Rare Earth Elements (REEs) Used inMobile Phones andOther Electronic Devices This project’s primary focus explores the current restrictions and constraints involved in recycling rare earth elements (REEs) from electronic devices. As technology develops with an ever-growing population, demand rates for REEs are forecasted to grow indefinitely. Mining these elements is an extensive process that carries significant environmental repercussions which deems it unsustainable. In order to implement sustainable practices to counteract mining pollution, recycling electronics must become a necessity. The research focuses on the barriers to creating a circular economy for mobile phones by surveying current public awareness, as well as running amobile phone recycling campaign to educate others on the topic. Student Programme Mechanical andManufacturing Engineering (Year 4) Project Area Educational, Environmental Mapping, Image/Video Processing, Social Networking, Wireless Technology, Life Cycle Assessment Project Technology Excel/VB, Student Name(s) OisinMoore Email oisin.moore3@mail.dcu.ie Supervisor Dr AnneMorrissey 112. PaperView This project is a comprehensive redesign of the university’s exampaper viewing system, Guru Archive, aimed at enhancing efficiency and the user experience. This overhaul introduces numerous quality-of-life improvements and objective enhancements to ensure amore streamlined experience for the user. Key features include a redesigned user interface, improved search functionality, and some new features, such as being able to view exampapers within the browser itself rather than having to download them like users have to at the moment. Student Programme Computer Applications Project Area Artificial Intelligence, Databases, Image/Video Processing, Natural Language Processing, Web Application Project Technology CSS, HTML5, JavaScript, Python, SQL, React.js Student Name(s) Aleksandrs Radcenko  |  Nicholas Jelovina Email aleksandrs.radcenko2@mail.dcu.ie  |   nicholas.jelovina2@mail.dcu.ie Supervisor Renaat Verbruggen 113. Scope 3 Carbon Auditing Toolkit Design andDevelopment The European Union’s Corporate Sustainability Reporting Directive will require companies that meet the criteria to report on their scope 3 carbon emissions, with the first reports due in 2025 for the 2024 financial year. This project undertakes a scope 3 carbon audit for an Irish security company. Following the initial carbon audit and taking the lessons learned from this process, an Excel calculator toolkit has been designed and developed for the categories identified during the audit. The purpose of the toolkit is to streamline the process for other companies who wish to calculate their scope 3 carbon emissions for the identified categories. Student Programme Mechanical and Sustainability Engineering Project Area Environmental Mapping, Life Cycle Assessment Project Technology Excel/VB Student Name(s) Conor Joseph Foley Email conor.foley46@mail.dcu.ie Supervisor Dr GregMcNamara