Minister James Lawless announces over €6 million funding for the final cohort of National Challenge Fund finalists

Minister for Further and Higher Education, Research, Innovation and Science, James Lawless TD has today announced the final 10 research teams to receive Grow Phase funding under the National Challenge Fund – a €65 million competitive programme which aims to deliver solutions for major environmental and societal issues.

Minister James Lawless said: “I am delighted to announce the final 10 research teams to become finalists as part of the National Challenge Fund – a competition-based funding programme. These teams are working on innovative, solution-focused projects that will have a real and positive impact on society, the economy, and the environment. They are exemplars of the positive impact research and innovation funding can deliver. I look forward to seeing these research teams progress their projects over the next year as they continue to support Ireland’s digital transformation and green transition.”

The National Challenge Fund, a programme funded by the EU’s Recovery and Resilience Facility, has supported 96 teams to identify problems related to Ireland’s Green Transition and Digital Transformation and collaborate directly with those stakeholders most affected by them to create real and tangible solutions.

Today’s announcement sees 10 teams become finalists in this competitive funding model. The teams selected today will have the opportunity for additional funding in the final phase of the programme, where prize funding of €2 million will be on offer to the most competitive teams under each Challenge.

Celine Fitzgerald, Interim CEO, of Research Ireland, said: “This announcement marks a key milestone for the National Challenge Fund as the final 10 research teams receive Grow Phase funding becoming finalists in this fast-passed funding programme. I wish all the finalist teams success as they continue to work towards delivering their ambitious solutions to key national challenges.”

EU Commissioner for Democracy, Justice, the Rule of Law and Consumer Protection, Michael McGrath, said: “I am delighted to see such innovative examples of the potential that EU funding can bring as the last cohort of National Challenge Fund teams progress to the finalist stage of this funding programme. These teams’ work will help address some of the most pressing challenges for society and help ensure a just transition for all as Ireland and the European Union continue our journey to a carbon-neutral future. I look forward to following their progress in the next phase of funding.”

The teams receiving funding today are split across two challenge areas.

The Sustainable Communities Challenge seeks solutions to ensure a sustainable future for Ireland’s urban and rural populations. The finalists in this challenge are researching solutions for key challenges in the areas of transportation infrastructure maintenance, waste polyester recycling, sustainable construction methods, mitigating bridge failure risk, and empowering communities to adopt more sustainable modes of transport.

The Sustainable Communities Challenge UCD teams are:

• Dr Shane Donohue, UCD School of Civil Engineering; Dr Soumyabrata Dev, UCD School of Computer Science: GEOMETRIC - GEOphysics and Machine learning for Evaluating Transportation Infrastructure Condition. 

• Associate Professor Oliver Kinnane and Dr Samar Raffoul, UCD School of Architecture, Planning and Environmental Policy: Platform4MMC - Decision support platform for optimum and sustainable Modern Methods of Construction rollout to alleviate the housing crisis.

• Professor Niamh Moore-Cherry, UCD College of Social Sciences and Law; Professor Brian Caulfield, Trinity College Dublin: CONUNDRUM: Co-creating sustainable and shared community mobility.

The Future Food Systems Challenge seeks solutions for sustainable, productive and resilient food systems. The teams in this challenge are researching solutions for key challenges in the areas of sustainable alternative protein sources, disease management in aquaculture, recycling critical raw materials for agrifood systems, mitigating crop losses due to fungal disease, and decision-support systems for food production in greenhouses.

The Future Food Systems UCD teams are:

• Professor Fiona Doohan, UCD School of Biology and Environmental Science; Professor Lorraine Brennan, UCD School of Agriculture and Food Science: FungiTech - crop residues as a substrate for producing filamentous mycoprotein.

• Dr Kirill Nikitin, UCD School of Chemistry; Dr Simon Hodge, UCD School of Agriculture and Food Science: SINFERT - Non-aqueous Generation of Soluble Phosphate Fertiliser from Solid Agricultural Biowaste for Sustainable Agrifood Systems.

Each team is being awarded up to €500,000 in funding for the next 12 months. They will spend the next year advancing prototyping activities and demonstrating how the solutions they are developing can create tangible value by addressing the specific societal needs identified and refined in the previous phases of the funding programme.