Ten women have been awarded a total of €1.7m in research funding as part of Science Foundation Ireland’s (SFI) Advanced Award programme aimed at encouraging more women into STEM.
The recipients of the funding have come from a variety of backgrounds in Ireland and include delegates attending the SFI’s science summit in Athlone, where some of Ireland’s leading researchers have already been awarded for their work this year.
According to the SFI, the primary purpose of its Advance Award programme is to give female post-doctoral researchers an opportunity to remain in, or return to, high-quality scientific research and in particular, to undertake further training that has substantial industry relevance.
It is the SFI’s expectation that researchers participating in the programme will be in a position to secure STEM employment in industry or in the public sector.
Minister for Skills, Research and Innovation Damien English, TD, has been attending the event and in response to the awarding of this funding, spoke of the importance of creating an equal playing field between both genders in academia and careers.
“We are delighted to have created opportunities for these 10 high-calibre individuals in order for them to pursue their passion in STEM,” English said.
“The quality and scope of the research involved highlights the commercial and societal benefits that SFI is delivering through its funded programmes.”
Recipients of this year’s funding are:
• Dr Catherine Mooney, Royal College of Surgeons in Ireland
• Dr Caitriona Long-Smith, University College Cork
• Dr Aleksandra Kaszubowska-Anandaraja, Trinity College Dublin
• Dr Lorraine Bateman, University College Cork
• Dr Elisabetta Arca, Trinity College Dublin
• Dr Hye-Young Kim, Trinity College Dublin
• Dr Vesna Jaksic, University College Cork
• Dr Damaris Fernandez, Trinity College Dublin
• Dr Huihui Lu, Tyndall National Institute
• Dr Agnieszka Indiana Olbert, National University of Ireland Galway
Woman in STEM image via Shutterstock
Women Invent Tomorrow is Silicon Republic’s campaign to champion the role of women in science, technology, engineering and maths. It has been running since March 2013, and is kindly supported by Accenture Ireland, Intel, the Irish Research Council, ESB, Twitter, CoderDojo and Science Foundation Ireland.
