Dr Elena Tsalaporta is a Lecturer in Process, Energy and Transport Engineering at MTU, working at the frontier of one of the defining challenges of our time: removing carbon dioxide from the atmosphere. Her research in carbon capture, direct air capture (DAC), and carbon dioxide removal (CDR) is helping to shape how Ireland and the world reach climate neutrality — from pioneering new capture technologies to informing the international standards by which carbon removal will be measured and governed.

She completed her PhD at University College Dublin, becoming Ireland's first PhD graduate in carbon capture, and held postdoctoral positions at Trinity College Dublin. She then spent eight years as a lecturer at University College Cork, where she supervised the country's first PhD in direct air capture, before joining MTU in September 2025. Today she represents Ireland as a Lead Author on the IPCC Methodology Report on Carbon Dioxide Removal Technologies and serves on the EPSRC Clean Energy Strategic Advisory Panel. She has secured over €2M in competitive research funding as Lead Principal Investigator from national and international funding bodies, holds six granted patents, is a Chartered Engineer, and holds accreditor/assessor roles with Engineers Ireland.

Her vision is to establish Ireland as a leader in engineered carbon removal, building the research capability, infrastructure, and talent needed to turn climate ambition into climate action, and inspiring the next generation of engineers to do the same.

Research interests: Carbon capture and storage; direct air capture; carbon dioxide removal; renewable-powered CDR systems.