Irene's main research field is in sustainable design, which includes pinch analysis, synthesis of eco-industrial park, waste-to-wealth optimisation, bio-nanomaterial synthesis, neural network optimisation, life cycle analysis.

She works closely with industrial partners in solving critical environmental and process optimisation problems. She has graduated nine PhD/Master students and she contributes in teaching chemical engineering subjects including sustainable processing, material and energy balances, engineers in society and design project.