Minister for Further and Higher Education, Research, Innovation and Science Simon Harris and Minister of State for International Development and Diaspora Sean Fleming have announced funding of more than €2 million for six new research teams developing innovative solutions to climate action challenges.
Three of the funded research teams are from UCD. Run in partnership between SFI and Irish Aid, the Sustainable Development Goals (SDG) Challenge will see teams competing for an overall prize of €1 million as they tackle climate action issues on life below water and life on land.`The ultimate winner will use their prize money to further advance their solution towards implementation.
The three funded research projects from UCD are:
Dr Quan Le and Dr Anh Vu Vo, UCD School of Computer Science: Mapping the mangroves of Vietnam to high resolution to track changes and implement restoration.
Dr Tobi Eniolu Morakinyo, UCD School of Geography and Prof Francesco Pilla UCD School of Architecture, Planning and Environmental Policy: Investigating green infrastructure in urban environments to reduce the impact of heat stress on human health.
Dr Liana Ricci, UCD School of Architecture, Planning and Environmental Policy and Dr Fiachra O’Loughlin, UCD School of Civil Engineering: Exploring relationships between water and the ecosystem to improve management of drought and floods in sub-Saharan cities.
Minister Harris said: “I am pleased to share the selection of these six teams for this SDG Challenge. The climate crisis and its consequences for life demand solutions that we can deploy as soon as possible. SFI’s Challenge Funding Programmes seek to support Ireland’s research community to accelerate the pace of innovation, developing novel, potentially disruptive, technologies to address significant societal challenges. These teams will work with researchers in Irish Aid’s partner countries to devise, refine and implement solutions to problems that threaten everyday life. This real-world impact is at the heart of the challenge-based funding supported by SFI and my department, which will utilise the best of research to make many lives better.”
The focus of the SDG Challenge is the development of innovative solutions relating to challenges associated with climate, biodiversity and the environment, with a specific objective of addressing challenges in countries where Irish Aid works. These projects represent international collaborations between research institutes in Ireland and groups in Irish Aid partner countries, in this case Tanzania, Zambia, Vietnam, Malawi and Uganda.
Minister Fleming said: “This year’s SDG Challenge funding focuses on climate action and the environment. We have already seen how developing nations can be disproportionately affected by the climate crisis. By supporting researchers both in Ireland and in the countries where Irish Aid works, we will use innovative ideas and cutting-edge scientific research to help mitigate some of those effects.”
Prof Philip Nolan, Director General, Science Foundation Ireland said: “The award of this funding is an exciting moment for these teams, and we are looking forward very much to seeing how they use this opportunity to advance their research. These six teams are working on specific problems that are central to our response to the climate crisis and using their creativity and research skills to develop immediate solutions. Not only do they represent some of the best of Irish research, they are also driven by the hope that their solutions can change the world – a sentiment at the heart of challenge-based funding.”
The SDG Challenge calls on research teams to develop innovative solutions that contribute to SDG 13: Climate Action, and related goals and targets. Recognising the interconnectedness between climate, biodiversity and the environment, the challenge theme also encompasses SDG 14: Life below water and SDG 15: Life on land.
Funded research projects from UCD teams:
Project title: AI Solutions for Mangrove Blue Carbon in Vietnam
Dr Quan Le and Dr Anh Vu Vo
Partner Country: Vietnam
With a total area of 138,318 hectares and a carbon sequestration rate about ten times higher than that of terrestrial forests, mangrove forests in Vietnam should play a big part in a climate change solution for the country. However, the country has lost 38% of its mangroves in recent decades. This project will develop AI models to map mangrove forests in Vietnam and to estimate total carbon stock. The team will implement a monitoring system to provide real-time information on mangrove forest health as well as suggest sites for restoration. The research is expected to help protect and expand mangrove forests in Vietnam, which in turn will help sequester CO2 and protect the Vietnam coastline with its community of 8 million from landslides and extreme weather.
Project title: HEAT-ADAPT: Enhancing HEAT ADAPTive capacity in Africa’s informal settlements with nature-based solutions
Dr Tobi Eniolu Morakinyo and Prof Francesco Pilla
Partner country: Tanzania
Extreme temperature due to climate change is causing heat stress leading to over five million deaths a year. In Dar es Salaam, 70 percent of the population live in informal settlements with high heat exposure but low adaptive capacity. Nature-based Solution (NbS) – green infrastructures (GIs) have been proven to provide climate regulation ecosystem services. HEAT-ADAPT is a grassroots climate action (SDG #13) project that will engage stakeholders and beneficiaries to co-design and produce NbS – exterior greening and community cooling centres that are evidence-based, socially inclusive, low-cost and “fit for purpose/location”. They will be integrated in informal communities to enhance their resilience and heat adaptive capacity.
Project title: Water Management through Ecohydrology for Climate Change Adaptation in Dar-Es-Salaam, Tanzania (WECOAdapt)
Dr Liana Ricci and Dr Fiachra O’Loughlin
Partner country: Tanzania
WECOAdapt combines ecohydrology and adaptive social protection approaches, integrating them into adaptation planning for improving the understanding and management of drought and floods and ecosystems of sub-Saharan cities. It addresses the urgent need to enhance the resilience and adaptive capacity of vulnerable communities to climatic and anthropogenic stress and extreme events, and to ecosystem degradation. The project will focus on reducing and preventing negative impacts of floods and drought and of unsustainable urban development, and on reversing the degradation of water and land resources and decline in biodiversity. It will contribute to empowering communities, researchers and institutions through effective engagement, to improving their understanding and ability to design and implement adaptation options, and to strengthening the financial and social infrastructure to support adaptation in the future.
Read more about the six winning teams here.