Research News
Minister of State with special responsibility for Research and Development at the Department of Agriculture, Food and the Marine Martin Heydon TD, today (9 July 2024) announced funding of €22.3 million for 21 new research projects arising from the 2023 DAFM Thematic Research Call.
When added to the previously announced 20 research grants, last December, it brings the total committed funding to over €46 million, the largest ever investment in research by the department.
Announcing the successful projects at an event held in Farmleigh House, the Minister of State said: “This will see research work being conducted across a wide range of areas including, low emissions dairy production, carbon sequestration in agricultural soils, developing farmland nature credits, optimising oat production and processing for healthy foods, assessing the impact of deer in forestry, advancing the Irish wool sector, sustainable packaging materials, and improving shelf life of dairy products, among others.”
He said: “I am impressed at the breadth of areas being funded, ranging from climate mitigation, water quality improvement and biodiversity restoration to animal health and welfare, food safety, and food health and nutrition, among others. I am also heartened to see that the projects will involve the education and training of over 40 postgraduate students and over 60 contract researchers, thus ensuring a continuous stream of highly skilled scientific talent coming through to our industry."
Seven UCD researchers were awarded funding under the call, from UCD School of Agriculture and Food Science, UCD School of Veterinary Medicine, and UCD School of Biology and Environmental Science.
UCD Vice-President for Research, Innovation and Impact Professor Kate Robson Brown said: “I would like to congratulate the successful researchers in this call, in particular the seven from UCD from across three schools and two colleges. Irish universities provide a vast resource of multidiscipline expertise and innovation that can help agricultural and bioeconomy businesses, the economy, and society meet challenges and maximise opportunities for growth. We welcome this investment in research by DAFM and we share the view that such investment will support Ireland’s competitiveness into the future.”
Minister Heydon highlighted that the total funding will support over 200 research positions including postgraduate students, postdoctoral and contract researchers – ensuring a pool of highly skilled researchers for the Irish agriculture, food, forest and bioeconomy sectors, benefitting them with the application of new science and technology.
The UCD projects awarded are:
Assessing the impact of deer in Irish forest ecosystems to inform evidence-based deer management and policy. Coordinator Dr Simone Ciuti, UCD School of Biology and Environmental Science.
Healthy Oats: Closing the Circle: Optimising Parameters for Oat Growth, Bioctive Extraction, and Processing to Produce Sustainable Fortified Food-For-Health Products. Coordinator Associate Professor Amalia Scannell, UCD School of Agriculture and Food Science.
Biostimulants for Grass Production. Coordinator Associate Professor Carl Ng, UCD School of Biology and Environmental Science.
Integrative genomics and development of next-generation tools for the control and eradication of bovine tuberculosis. Coordinator Professor David MacHugh, UCD School of Agriculture and Food Science.
Transdisciplinary Interventions to Control Salmonella in Irish Pig Farms. Coordinator Professor Finola Leonard, UCD School of Veterinary Medicine.
Farming Minds: Developing evidence based interventions to enhance farmer mental health. Coordinator Dr Tomás Russell, UCD School of Agriculture and Food Science.
National Pre-school Nutrition Survey II. Coordinator Associate Professor Breige McNulty, UCD School of Agriculture and Food Science.
As part of the ongoing North-South co-operation on agri-food research and innovation, the Department of Agriculture, Environment and Rural Affairs, Northern Ireland collaborated in this research call by providing funding to enable eligible research organisations in Northern Ireland to participate in projects with partners in Ireland. Two projects will benefit from this collaboration in the Tranche II list.
See the full DAFM announcements at: