Research News
Minister for Further and Higher Education, Research, Innovation and Science Simon Harris TD has today (12 June) welcomed 47 new teams to compete in the €65 million National Challenge Fund – receiving initial funding totalling more than €13 million to work on solutions to major environmental and societal issues. Funded by the EU’s Recovery and Resilience Facility, the Fund calls on researchers to identify problems related to Ireland’s Green Transition and Digital Transformation and work with those directly affected to solve them.
The teams will spend an initial six months working to refine their ideas including areas such as:
Minister Harris said: “These teams have presented ingenious ideas and committed their talents to working for the benefit of the people of Ireland. We see examples in the news most days of why Ireland needs to work at the green transition and digital transformation and ensure that our innovation and research prepare the country for the future.
“In fact, the solutions being worked on in all eight challenges in the National Challenge Fund have the potential not just to improve life here in Ireland, but across Europe and around the world.”
Science Foundation Ireland Director General Philip Nolan said: “SFI is very pleased with the response to the National Challenge Fund calls and we are happy to be supporting these teams as they embark on an intense period of engaged research, refining and validating their solutions. We have learnt from our previous challenge-based funding that teams can make huge strides in very short periods of time.
“The individual problems these teams have identified tally closely with some of the submissions we received from the public during the Creating Our Future campaign, so I look forward to seeing these ideas developed in ways that can improve everyday life in Ireland.”
These teams are divided across four challenges:
Digital for Resilience – a challenge to gain deeper insights and better understanding of the origins and potential impacts of future environmental, social or economic scenarios, and prepare for future shock events;
OurTech – a challenge to strengthen the connections between people, their communities and with government;
Energy Innovation – a challenge to develop solutions that will accelerate Ireland’s transition to a clean and secure energy system;
A Healthy Environment for All – a challenge to restore and maintain a resilient environment that ensures clean and healthy air, water and soil for humans, animals and plants.
The National Challenge Fund was established under the government’s National Recovery and Resilience Plan (NRRP), funded by the EU’s Recovery and Resilience Facility. The fund is coordinated and administered by Science Foundation Ireland.
Teams whose funding was announced, including 27 UCD researchers:
Dr Mohammad Ali, Dr Mohammad Reza Ghaani, Trinity College Dublin: Nano-AGS: Efficient and sustainable wastewater treatment using nanobubble-assisted aerobic granular sludge (AGS) process
Prof. Jeremy Auerbach, University College Dublin; Dr Suzanne Linnane, Dundalk Institute of Technology: Unleading Water: Community science and environmental justice for health Irish homes
Dr Ruairí Brannigan, Dr Eadaoin Carthy, Dublin City University: Revolutionizing Water Purification: An innovative filtration-based approach for the effective elimination of per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances (PFAS)
Dr Ciprian Briciu-Burgina, Prof. Fiona Regan, Dublin City University: RESTART (Rapid bactErial Sensting for a healThy wAter environment)
Dr Marica Cassarino, Dr Dean Venables, University College Cork: BEHAViour and Impacts on AIR quality: Combining forecasting with co-created targeted messages to reduce polluting behaviours (BEHAV-I-AIR)
Dr Yuanyuan Chen, Technological University of the Shannon; Prof. Maurice Collins, University of Limerick: Traceless: Developing fully biodegradable tree-supporting products with controlled release of fertilizers and pesticides to avoid microplastic and chemical pollution
Dr Deirdre Fitzgerald-Hughes, RCSI University of Medicine and Health Sciences; Dr Mary Pryce, Dublin City University: NoHoW-AMR – New OneHealth OneWater Antimicrobial Resistance Solutions
Prof. Cormac Murphy, Prof. James Sullivan, University College Dublin: A sustainable solution for the disposal of PFAS-containing aqueous film forming foams (AFFF)
Dr David O’Connor, Dublin City University; Dr Jiayao Chen, University College Dublin: Biological and chemical aerosol monitoring and modelling (BOHEMIAN)
Dr Jimmy O’Keeffe, Dublin City University; Dr Jolanta Burke, RSCI University of Medicine and Health Sciences: VNiC-Health (Valuing Natural Capital in Communities for Health)
Dr Srikanta Sannigrahi, Dr Anh Vu Vo, University College Dublin: An INTEgrated street tree VALuation-based solution for minimizing the uneven street tree distribution in cities (INTERVAL)
Dr Salem Gharbia, Dr Iulia Anton, Atlantic Technological University: Digital tool technology for smart farming: improving sustainability and reducing carbon footprint in the Irish horticulture and tillage sector
Dr Vincent Hargaden, Dr Sean McGarraghy, University College Dublin: Resilience to Address Medicine Shortages for Patients (ReAMPS)
Dr Meghana Kshirsagar, Dr Alison O’Connor, University of Limerick: Unleashing the Power of AI and Digital Twins in Emergency Care: A vision for the future (ALTER)
Dr Ruth Levey, Dr Ruth Tarpey University of Galway: ambiCART, a disruptive digital technology to track live cells and monitor their viability in real time as they are shipped ambiently
Dr John MacSharry, Prof. Ciara Heavin, University College Cork: UniHealth – Digital technologies to allow real-time diagnosis, detection and reporting of infections on University campus
Dr Sarbast Moslem, Dr Pavlos Tafidis, University College Dublin: Digital Voting Hub for Sustainable Urban Transport System
Dr Hazel Murray, Gillian O’Carroll, Munster Technological University: Digital Resilience for SMEs
Dr Indiana Olbert, Dr Thomas McDermott, University of Galway: Novel approaches for forecasting multi-hazard hydrological events (StopFloods4.ie)
Prof. Donna O’Shea, Munster Technological University; Prof. Thomas Newe, University of Limerick: Cyber Shock – Building Ireland’s Cyber Resilience against Cyber Attacks
Dr Cemalettin Ozturk, Munster Technological University; Prof. Barry O’Sullivan, University College Cork: Deep Learning based Transferrable Supply Chain Stress Test
Prof. Mark Roantree, Dublin City University; Prof. Patricia Kearney, University College Cork: RECONNECT: Chronic disease discovery, analysis and predictive modelling
Dr Rui Teixeira, Dr Beatriz Martinez-Pastor, University College Dublin: CAPABLE – Creating a digitAl Platform to Assess community capability Based resiLiencE
Prof. Dermot Brabazon, Dr Corné Muilwijk, Dublin City University: Enhanced Photocatalytic Electrochemical Cells (PEC) for Green Hydrogen Production: surfaces to break the cost and production yield barriers of PEC
Prof. Alojz Ivankovic, Dr Luke Kelleher, University College Dublin: Aerodynamic Design and CFD analysis of drag reducing appendable devices for large ground vehicles
Dr Vesna Jaksic, Munster Technological University; Dr Paul Leahy, University College Cork: National REposItoRy of Decommissioned Wind Turbine BLADEs (EirBLADE)
Dr Tony Keene, Prof. Kevin McDonnell, University College Dublin: BioCarbon – Turning Waste into Energy Storage
Dr Dmitry Kozlov, Dr Senad Bulja, Tyndall National Institute: RENAISSANCE: Wireless charging and powering of spatially spread IoT devices using magnetic fields
Dr Fergal O’Rourke, Dr Peter Ryan, Dundalk Institute of Technology: Floating Offshore Measurement Platform
Prof. Fabiano Pallonetto, Dr Amy Fahy, Maynooth University: RENEW – Renewable energy through networking, education, and building a strong community will for sustainability
Dr Kunwar Paritosh, Dr Archishman Bose, University College Cork: Engineered organic carbon-based functional materials for energy and water (EMERGE)
Dr Sithara Pavithran, Dublin City University; Prof Valeria Nicolosi, Trinity College Dublin: Advanced perovskite solar cells for mass-scale sustainable production (SmarTSolaR)
Prof. Igor Shvets, Dr Sarah McCormack, Trinity College Dublin: Smart Materials for Energy Efficient Windows
Dr James Sweeney, University of Limerick; Prof. Vikram Pakrashi, University College Dublin: Real-time prediction of GREEN electricity generation potential from renewables for optimized GRID management (GREEN-GRID)
Dr Matthias Vandichel, Prof. Vivek Ranade, University of Limerick: GEOTHERMAL: Sustainable Geothermal Energy as zero-fuel alternative for heat pumping, storage and power generation
Prof. Dominic Zerulla, Dr Silas O’Toole, University College Dublin: Dynamic, sustainable glazing technology enabling modulation of solar heat flow, significantly reducing carbon emissions from the built environment
Dr Chiara Cocco, Dr Gabriela Martinez Sainz, University College Dublin: CRAFT-MY-STREET – Capacity building of local government for youth engagement in decision-making through geospatial data in Minecraft
Dr Philip Crowe, Dr Gavin McArdle, University College Dublin: Vacancy Map Ireland (VMI): Development of an open geospatial data model for vacancy using proxy datasets, GIS and AI
Dr Hannah Goss, Prof. Alan Smeaton, Dublin City University: Photovoice+ - mapping the health environments of young people
Dr Susan Leavy, Dr Ruihai Dong, University College Dublin: ART: Assessing recommendations for trustworthy AI
Dr Keith Maycock, National College of Ireland; Dr Yvonne Lynch, Trinity College Dublin: Project Lily: Enhancing speech language therapy supports for children
Dr Hazel Murray, Aoife Long, Munster Technological University: Cyber safety for vulnerable populations
Dr Dympna O’Sullivan, TU Dublin; Dr Julie Doyle, Dundalk Institute of Technology: CODESIGN – Co-creating DEmentia Support for InteGrated care, a Novel platform approach
Dr Susan Rea, Dr Mary Galvin, Munster Technological University: IDEate – Inclusive DEsign for digital public services
Dr Payam Sajadi, Dr Di Nguyen, University College Dublin: Domestic Gardens Identification and Modification: A nature-based solution for flood risk mitigation
Dr Christina Thorpe, Dr Matt Bowden, TU Dublin: GroSafe: A technology-enabled solution for building societal resilience against grooming
Dr Ihsan Ullah, University of Galway; Dr Waqar Shahid Qureshi, TU Dublin: Intelligent pavement condition rating systems for cycle routes and greenways (iPSRS)