From left: Minister James Lawless, TD; Eleanor, part of the original Floral study; and Monica, Eleanor’s mother. Image: Jason Clarke
The fund will support 86 positions including PhDs and postdoctoral researchers.
Taighde Éireann – Research Ireland has announced €23.6m in funding to support 23 research projects as part of the agency’s Frontiers for the Future programme. The latest funding round, announced today (26 February), supports projects focused on tackling challenges in artificial intelligence (AI), healthcare, agriculture, energy and transport.
The research agency’s future-focused funding programme supports high-risk, high-reward research programmes, which have the potential to deliver economic and societal impact.
Some successful examples from this round include a Dublin City University project which will develop AI tools for diagnostic imaging and a project by the RCSI University of Medicine and Health Sciences called ‘Floral’ that will examine the long-term effects of Covid-19 on children’s gut bacteria and social outcomes.
Moreover, the Technical University of Shannon has received funding to mine micro-organisms living in seaweed with the aim of identifying compounds to improve crops.
This round’s successful awardees are from nine higher educational institutes and research organisations, including Trinity College Dublin, Teagasc, University College Dublin, University College Cork, University of Galway and University of Limerick. And according to Celine Fitzgerald, the interim chief executive of Research Ireland, this round’s awards will fund a total of 86 positions, comprising of postdoctoral researchers, PhDs, research assistants and support staff.
“The Research Ireland Frontiers for the Future programme supports the development of world-class research across a range of disciplines. The awardees – spanning nine research institutions nationwide – have brought forward novel and innovative ideas with strong potential to deliver impactful solutions for major challenges facing society today,” said Minister for Further and Higher Education, Research, Innovation and Science James Lawless, TD, who announced the awards.
“The programme itself promotes gender balance and provides opportunities for emerging investigators returning to research. I look forward to seeing the awardees’ progress over the coming years.”
While Fitzgerald said that the programme is “driven by feedback from the research community and represents a strong commitment to developing future talent in key areas”.
“I’m very pleased with the opportunities that this targeted investment is creating, and greatly encouraged that crucial research on pressing issues will be facilitated as a result.”
Last October, the Frontiers for the Future programme announced that it would support 40 wide-ranging research projects with a €26m fund.
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