Dr Jenny Lawler will follow the trail of plasticisers in landfill and waste and look at links with health, in an effort to make our environment safer. In Ireland, the issue of phthalates in the environment is still something of an unknown quantity, according to Dr Jenny Lawler from Dublin City University (DCU), who is about to gather the data. “We are going to assess the occurrence and fates of phthalates currently in the Irish environment,” explains Lawler, a lecturer in DCU’s school of biotechnology. Read, read, readAs Lawler gears up to tracking potentially harmful chemicals in the Irish environment, she reflects that, when at school, chemistry was not in her plans. “Read popular science and maths books that will really ignite your passion for the STEM subjects,” she says.