Research Ireland has announced 14 collaborative projects involving Ireland- and France-based researchers. Under the Ulysses Programme 2025, the project teams will share a total of €94,000 in funding. UCD researchers will collaborate on three of the projects.

The Ulysses scheme aims to foster new collaborations by facilitating the exchange of innovative ideas and approaches between researchers based in Ireland and France, across all disciplines. Seed funding is allocated to project leaders in both French and Irish higher education institutions to enable them to make reciprocal travel visits.  

Now in its 27th year, Ulysses is funded and administered by Research Ireland, in collaboration with the French Ministry of Foreign Affairs, the French Ministry of Higher Education and Research, the Embassy of France in Ireland and Campus France.  

Selected projects are also supported by strategic partners, namely EirGrid, Réseau de Transport d’Électricité (RTE-France), Sustainable Energy Authority of Ireland (SEAI) and ADEME — the French Environment and Energy Management Agency.  

Celine Fitzgerld, Interim CEO Research Ireland, said, “Research Ireland is delighted to continue this long-standing collaboration with the French Embassy and our funding partners on the Ulysses programme. This initiative continues to foster rich partnerships between Irish and French researchers focusing on relevant topics that generate a shared interest among our two countries.  

“I would like to thank the scheme’s strategic partners and to congratulate them on their continued support in recognising the vital role that researchers in Ireland and France play in solving real-world problems, especially through impactful Franco-Irish collaborations. Their commitment to the Ulysses programme focusing on priority aspects relating to health, climate, renewable energy and other areas besides is commendable.

Kerrie Sheehan, Head of Research, Innovation and Electricity at SEAI said, “SEAI recognises the value of our strategic co-funding partnership with ADEME in stimulating novel ideas and collaborations between Ireland and France-based researchers in the highly successful Ulysses programme. By providing joint seed funding, focusing on the transition to clean energy, we have seen researchers develop and expand their work well beyond the initial project. We are delighted to co-fund the 2025 awardees and follow their progress”. 

The UCD Projects are:

INTEGRATE: INTEGRative mixture models for joint differential Analyses of nesTEd multiomics data
Prof Claire Gormley, UCD School of Mathematics and Statistics and Andrea Rau, INRAE
Funded by Research Ireland & The Embassy of France in Ireland

AGROPATH: Agropastoralism, herding intensification and the emergence of pathogens in Southwest Asia in the past studied using dental remains
Dr Kevin Daly, (Ad Astra Fellow) UCD School of Agriculture and Food Science and Marjan Mashkour, AASPE - Archéozoologie, Archéobotanique: Sociétés, Pratiques et Environnements
Funded by Research Ireland & The Embassy of France in Ireland

Sustainable direct recycling of lithium iron phosphate batteries
Dr Georg Pesch, UCD School of Chemical and Bioprocess Engineering and Anna Vanderbruggen Université de Lorraine 
Funded by SEAI & ADEME 

For a full list of awardees visit the Research Ireland website.