To celebrate the ISSF awardees and their considerable achievements, a Showcase event was held in UCD's University Club on 15th September 2022. The event, which was hosted by ISSF Principal Investigator Professor William Gallagher, was attended by Wellcome External Liaison Manager Roger Blake, Science Foundation Ireland Director General Professor Philip Nolan, Health Research Board CEO Dr. Mairéad O'Driscoll, UCD VP for Research, Innovation and Impact, Professor Orla Feely, as well as many of the ISSF Awardees, their Heads of School and past and current Project Managers.
The event was opened by Professor Gallagher, who gave an overview of the ISSF and its strucutre and goals. Several awardees, including Dr. Pamela Kelly (Clinical Primer Scheme) and Professor Niamh Nowlan (Mid-Career Stimulus & Diversification Scheme), presented short talks on their research and on the personal and professional impact of the ISSF award.
UCD Conway Artist in Residence Lorna Donlon also gave a short talk to introduce her exhibition, (opens in a new window)STEP Through the Looking Glass; Stories Told of Experimental Processes. A few pieces from this exhibition were on show during the coffee break, and guest were invited to view the full exhibition in the Conway foyer after the Showcase.
The event closed with a panel discussion, chaired by Professor Orla Feely, on the subject of the supports and challenges around the academic career trajectory. Panelists were Professor Philip Nolan, Dr. Mairead O'Driscoll, Professor Emma Teeling (Mid-Career Stimulus & Diversification Scheme Awardee), Dr. Nicola Fletcher (Mid-Career Stimulus & Diversification Scheme Awardee) and Dr. Rosemarie Gannon (Project Manager for Personalised & Translational Medicine).
In the section below you'll find some examples of ISSF Alumni discussing their award and what it meant to them both personally and professionally.
- A full list of ISSF Awardees can be found here
- Information on funding opportunities for early career researchers can be found here
(Image, L-R: Prof Orla Feely, Prof Philip Nolan, Roger Blake, Dr. Mairéad O'Driscoll, Prof William Gallagher)
Awardee Case Study: Dr. Pamela Kelly
"The ISSF award has really helped me to believe in myself. It gave me validation as an early-stage researcher, and it gave me th confidence to know that I was on the right path to developing my research career. It has been a great motivator and has given me the confidence to network and collaborate with reearchers in Ireland and internationally, and to apply for external funding as the PI".
- Dr. Pamela Kelly, Clinical Primer Scheme Awardee
Awardee Case Study: Professor Amanda McCann
"Wholeheartedly, this funding has been instrumental to allowing me continue my group's research into investigating the mechanisms of chemoresistance in TNBC and how extracellular vesicles play a role. Importantly, this ISSF resource gave leverage to secure further funding to allow us to not only continue our translational TNBC projects in humans, but also ook at the parallel, spontaneous presentations of feline mammary cancer in veterinary patients in the "Comparative Oncology" space. In summary, the groundwork undertaken in the ISSF funding I received was integral to the success of our current research program and underpinned my successful promotion to Professor within UCD in 2019"
- Professor Amanda McCann, Mid-Career Stimulus and Diversification Scheme Awardee
Awardee Case Study: Dr. Ross Neville
"Successfully achieving an ISSF award has given me great confidence that my research passions are also recognised and valued by the broader research community who reviewed my work. Validation is an important part of the early career research process, and having an ISSF award has often been noted as a source of esteem amongst my co-workers and colleagues. From a career perspective, holding an ISSF award has exposed me to many new training and mentoring opportunities - which are commonly sought-after esteem indicators on large grant applications. ISSF-related research and collaborations make me feel personally ready to take on the next staage larger grant to consolidate my career"
- Dr. Ross Neville, Medical Humanities and Social Sciences Collaborative Scheme Awardee