Minister for Further and Higher Education, Research, Innovation and Science, James Lawless TD, has announced a €2.5 million investment to fund 28 fellowships through the Research Ireland Industry Research, Development, and Innovation Fellowship (IRDIF) Programme. The funding will enable researchers to undertake placements in 22 companies, working on projects across diverse fields.

Announcing the awards, Minister Lawless said, “Research Ireland’s Industry Research Development and Innovation Fellowship Programme is an excellent example of how the best of academic research and industry expertise can be brought together to tackle challenges and deliver impactful solutions. The initiative strengthens our national research ecosystem and highlights the importance of partnerships in fostering innovation that drives societal and economic growth. I look forward to the significant contributions these fellowships will bring.”

The industry partners collaborating on the programme will collectively contribute co-funding of over €1.7 million. Researchers will bring valuable academic insights and research experience to their respective industry partners, while developing their industry and business knowledge during their placement.

The fellowships range in duration from 12 to 24 months and this year's awardees represent eight higher education institutions. The industry collaborators for the programme this year include 21 companies based in Ireland and one company from Toronto, Canada. 

The UCD Awardees are:

Dr Hossein Kiani, UCD School of Biosystems and Food Engineering - Industry Partner: Arrabawn Co-Operative Ltd
PhosphoGreen: Converting dairy processing side-streams (acid casein whey) into sustainable phosphate supplement using optimised novel phosphate removal approaches

Dr Jiaying Guo, UCD School of Computer Science - Industry Partner: TechWorks Marine
HABShield: Online Multimodal Spatio-Temporal, LLM-Enhanced, Explainable AI Detection System for Harmful Algal Bloom Alerts

Dr Jing Lyu, UCD School of Medicine - Industry Partner: Branca Bunús Ltd.
Development of A New Knot Polymeric Gene Transfection Reagent Towards Recessive Dystrophic Epidermolysis Bullosa (RDEB) Treatment

Dr Rijian Song, UCD School of Medicine - Industry Partner: Bláfar Ltd.
Development of Tough Injectable Hydrogel System for Cartilage Repair

Dr Tianyu Guan, UCD School of Mechanical and Materials Engineering - Industry Partner: Marama Labs Limited
Development of high-throughput dialysis system for RNA-lipid nanoparticles (LNPs) purification

Celine Fitzgerald, Interim CEO of Research Ireland, added, “We are delighted to facilitate these new partnerships between academia and industry. The Research Ireland IRDIF Programme offers researchers unique opportunities to address industry-focused challenges, ensuring that the knowledge exchange drives research excellence and enhances the competitive advantage of the companies involved.”

Research Ireland is working towards opening funding opportunities in 2025 which enable post-doctoral researchers to collaborate with enterprise, which we anticipate will open in the first half of 2025. These will be developed in collaboration with the Research Ireland Industry RD&I Fellowship Programme and the Research Ireland Enterprise Partnership Scheme (Postdoctoral) teams. 

For a full list of awardees visit Research Ireland.