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The projects selected for funding under the programme include research into sustainable water management, photonic integrated circuits and wearable sensors.
Several researchers based on the island of Ireland and in the US have been awarded funding totalling €7m to carry out academic study under the US-Ireland Research programme.
The US-Ireland Research programme is a joint effort between Ireland, Northern Ireland and the US, which aims to foster R&D collaboration between the regions.
A total of six awards have been announced today (15 March). They span 11 institutions, supporting around 21 research positions on the island of Ireland and around 20 in the US over a three to four-year period.
The projects selected for funding under the programme include research into sustainable water management, photonic integrated circuits, wearable sensors, microbial activity, telecoms and more.
A team from Tyndall National Institute led by Prof Alan O’Riordan received a second US-Ireland programme award for work on a project using AI and other tech tools to understand and predict the behaviour of microbes.
Prof Michael Zaworotko of the University of Limerick (UL) has also received his second US-Ireland programme award with research that uses predictive modelling to make the collection of water under normal temperatures and atmospheric conditions more effective.
Other awardee institutions based in Ireland are University College Dublin, Queen’s University Belfast and Ulster University.
In the Republic of Ireland, the main funding partner behind the programme is Science Foundation Ireland (SFI). The Department for the Economy (DfE) is Northern Ireland’s main funding partner, while the National Science Foundation (NSF) is the US funding agency.
Since the US-Ireland programme began in 2006, these agencies have committed some €148.4m in government funding across a total of 92 awards. Last year’s awards totalled €21m, which was far more substantial than 2022 and 2021’s packages.
Commenting on today’s awards, Prof Philip Nolan, director general of SFI, said he was delighted the funding went to projects “addressing challenges in the realms of sustainability, telecommunications, healthcare, biosensors and engineering.”
“The US-Ireland R&D Partnership Programme continues to support and encourage strong, collaborative relationships between our countries. These are world-class, innovative research projects that will greatly benefit our collective societies and economies.”
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