TEDxAberystwyth 2025 Speaker
Dr Jessica Adams is a Principal Investigator in Bioconversion and Biorefining at IBERS, Aberystwyth University, with a specialist interest in macroalgae (seaweed). She has expertise in carbohydrate and higher value compound extractions, novel enzyme discovery and larger (pilot)-scale processing. She is currently working with two Post-Docs, 6x PhD, and 3x undergraduate students on aspects of macroalgal usage, including in bioplastics, gut health and soil amendments. She sits on boards for Algae-UK (BBSRC) and Seafood Innovation Fund (Defra); is the President elect of the learned society the British Phycological Society, is a member of the BBSRC pool of experts; and is Associate Editor for the journals Applied Phycology and the European Journal of Phycology.
In her talk, Jessica outlines some of the properties of seaweeds, with particular focus on the hydrocolloids. She explains how these compounds, alginate, carrageenan and agar, are used in many products used by all of us on a daily basis and how their potential could be used in the future too. She also presents current uses of seaweed in our day-to-day lives, some of which you would not necessarily expect.
TEDxAberystwyth 