Fionn Ferreira

19yo Scientist, Public Speaker, and Engineer

2019 Google Science Fair Winner for Microplastics Solution

 

Fionn Ferreira is a 19 year-old scientist, public speaker and engineer. Fionn has spent a large proportion of his time building and working on challenges that he is passionate about as well as educating people about science. Fionn has given many Keynote presentations about his work to varied audiences addressing plastic pollution and sustainability. He spent lots of his childhood paddling around the coasts of Ireland with his kayak.

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When Fionn heard about microplastics, he became very passionate about finding a way to combat the issue. He decided to start researching and developed a non-harmful way to extract these microplastics from water using vegetable oil and rust powder. Fionn left top scientists and engineers in awe as he was named the Grand prize global winner of the Google Science Fair 2019 and award winner at the Intel International Science and Engineering fair.

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Fionn is studying Chemistry at the University of Groningen, Netherlands. Like this, he wishes to gather the tools required to solve many more problems in the future. He is currently working on building a prototype for his extraction equipment which he is aiming to have implemented in wastewater treatment and shipping in the future. Fionn also works in his local planetarium, giving lectures about the stars and plays the trumpet at the university orchestra.