€2.2 million research funding to address global issues of hunger and food insecurity

Minister for Further and Higher Education, Research, Innovation and Science, James Lawless TD, and Minister of State for International Development and Diaspora, Neale Richmond TD recently announced €2.2 million funding for research projects that seek to address the global issues of hunger and food insecurity.  

Professor Fionnuala McAuliffe, co-lead of the AMEN project, is at the forefront of a groundbreaking initiative to improve maternal and child health in Sub-Saharan Africa. Through innovative mobile health (mHealth) interventions, her team aims to enhance nutritional education and equitable access to nutrient-rich meals for women from marginalised communities. This project is one of six research initiatives receiving funding to tackle global food insecurity and hunger.

The Sustainable Development Goals Challenge is run in partnership with Irish Aid, and the six research projects receiving funding are focused on SDG 2: Zero Hunger. The research teams will develop a wide range of solutions that can contribute to ending hunger, achieving food security and promoting sustainable agriculture. 

Minister James Lawless said:
“Today’s funding announcement reinforces Ireland’s commitment to implementing the UN Sustainable Development Goals. With over 700 million people continuing to face food insecurity and malnutrition globally, the research of these six teams can make a real and positive impact at an international level. 

As these projects progress through collaboration with researchers in Irish Aid partner countries, they will work directly with those most impacted by the challenges they are addressing, delivering tangible solutions to significant societal challenges. I wish the teams every success over the coming months.” 

Minister Neale Richmond said: “Ireland is committed to creating a more equal and sustainable world. Investment in transforming global food systems is crucial to delivering on this commitment. Irish Aid’s ongoing partnership with Research Ireland is an important driver of innovative and transformational change. With this Challenge focused on the Sustainable Development Goal of Zero Hunger, the projects funded today will help us combat chronic hunger, under-nutrition and gender inequality for food systems transformation.” 

Celine Fitzgerald, Interim CEO, Research Ireland, said: “The SDG Challenge programme is an inspiring example of the power of international collaboration and strategic research funding. Challenge-based research funding encourages researchers to work directly with those most affected by the problems they seek to address and Research Ireland’s collaboration with Irish Aid has enabled truly international research partnerships.  

Ireland has a whole-of-government approach to the implementation of the SDGs and the projects funded today are a leading example of this integrated commitment. I look forward to following the progress these teams make as they develop their research projects.”  

The six projects represent international collaborations between research institutes in Ireland and in Irish Aid partner countries – in this case, South Africa, Malawi, Uganda, Vietnam, and Zimbabwe. The research teams funded today will have the opportunity to compete for an overall prize fund of €1 million for the most competitive team as part of this challenge-based funding programme.