ReCLAIM Round 2 Awardees

Principal Investigators: Dr Bianca Cataldi  and Professor Anne Fuchs 

Co-PIs: Mr William Fitzmaurice

Project Summary:

This transnational and interdisciplinary project has 3 main objectives: 1) to inform our research communities on new developments in transnational research, providing definitions and tools to advance interdisciplinary research in a transnational direction; 2) to offer every member of our research communities the opportunity to network and find common grounds in order to increase their possibilities to apply for prestigious research grants; and 3) to inform those members on the most recent European approaches to research integrity and EDI,in order to foster a positive and ethical research culture. Led by Dr. Bianca Cataldi (UCD Humanities Institute & UCD School of Languages, Cultures and Linguistics) in collaboration with Caitriona Devery and William Fitzmaurice (UCD Earth Institute), this project will run for 9 months (April to December 2025) and it will encourage encounters and collaborations between researchers through 3 in-person events: 1 speed dating event between STEM and AHSS researchers, 1 Afternoon Tea with expert speakers on research integrity and EDI, 1 ECRs roundtable on transnationalising research culture. Further, there will be 2 follow-up online meetings, and a variety of multimedial outcomes. All TRAIN events are characterised by a robust and easy to replicate structure which allows them to be effortlessly adopted and adapted widely across the university. The two online meetings will enable the project team to discuss follow-up plans and further collaborations involving the new network arising from the in-person events, with particular attention to international and interdisciplinary funding opportunities.

Principal Investigator: Dr Suja Somanadhan 

Co-PIs: Professor Emma J. O'Neill, Assoc Professor Naonori Kodate, Dr Flavia H Santos, Dr Brynne Gilmore, Miss Melissa Kinch, Ms Niamh Buckle, Dr Huichao Xie

Project Summary: 

Effective communication is essential for postgraduate researchers navigating today’s interconnected global research environment. Beyond language, effective communication requires cultural sensitivity, an understanding of diverse perspectives, and the ability to adapt to various audiences. This is especially critical for researchers studying abroad or working with diverse communities, where unique challenges demand heightened cultural

awareness and advanced communication skills. Aligned with UCD’s strategic initiative Breaking Boundaries, the EMBRACE project equips postgraduate researchers with practical skills for culturally responsive communication. It empowers researchers to honour their unique identities while effectively engaging diverse stakeholders in virtual and in-person settings. EMBRACE is not about identifying “top communicators” or creating an elite group of presenters. Instead, it focuses on raising communication standards and building confidence for all participants in an inclusive, supportive environment that celebrates diversity. The initiative helps researchers translate their knowledge into impactful practice through practical training and resources, enabling meaningful contributions to the global research community.

The project promotes effective communication as a foundation for professional and social engagement. It provides tools and spaces for participants to grow collaboratively, fostering a shared commitment to improving communication skills. By cultivating a collaborative approach rather than singling out individuals, EMBRACE ensures collective growth, resulting in participants who are more aware of the power of their voices to share their research stories. This initiative strengthens UCD’s ability to connect with broader audiences and reinforces its commitment to global engagement and inclusion. 

Principal Investigators: Dr Laura Foley, Dr Glen Jankowski, Patrick Mulvaney

Co-PIs: Isabelle Nic Craith, Dr Brendan Rooney, Dr Suzanne Guerin, Dr Amanda Fitzgerald, Dr Flávia H. Santos, Dr Paul D’Alton

Project Summary: 

This project will develop an Interdisciplinary Writing Solidarity Group (IWSG)
across UCD to support researchers to progress in their writing and publication goals and to build an inclusive research culture. This will be achieved through 1) Writing Retreats, 2) Workshops, and 3) A Formal Evaluation. 

The IWSG aims to enhance productivity and output among researchers by providing a dedicated time and space for reading, writing, and discussing progress (Objective 1), while also incorporating contained workshops into the schedule. These workshops will highlight and address common barriers to research progression (Objective 2), focusing on i) evidence-based overviews of research barriers including those that disproportionately impact women and minoritized researchers such as citation gaps, disproportionate emotional labour, and biased student evaluations and ii) actions researchers individually and collectively can take to begin to resist such barriers including through research collaboration, mindful citing, challenging imposter syndrome and building confidence towards policy impact and publishing (Objective 2). Writing retreats and workshops will facilitate interdisciplinary collaboration and networking, and the construction of a community of researchers from different backgrounds in UCD (Objective 3).Finally, a formal evaluation of the effects of the Writing Group will be conducted through a series of mixed-methods surveys pre, during (at the end of each retreat) and as follow-up to assess their impact (Objective 4). This evaluation and outputs will allow future Writing Group iterations to be adapted according to the needs of the researchers, and applied more widely across UCD.

Principal Investigator: Dr Christie Nicoson

Co-PIs: Dr Melanie Hoewer, Professor Aisling Swaine, Dr Caitriona Dowd

Project Summary: 

This project proposal responds to a need identified in several schools across UCD's College of Social Science and Law (COSSL). Many researchers in the COSSL engage in research that has emotional, safety and wellbeing implications, both for the researcher and research participants. This includes, but is not limited to, research on issues of violence, conflict experience, surviving trauma, genocide, disasters and more. While there is growing recognition of the need for institutional engagement and supports for emotionally-impactful research among peer universities in the UK and elsewhere, this remains a gap at UCD. We have identified specific needs related to designing ethical research (e.g., mitigating harm of re-traumatisation for participants) as well as training to support researcher wellbeing (e.g., negative mental health impacts from this kind of study). The aim of this project is to generate recognition of the specificities of conducting emotionally impactful research and contribute to fostering a more positive research culture at UCD in support of such research. The project will create the first dialogue, exchange and networking among researchers in the college conducting research of this kind, and by so doing, identify and initiate the first steps to address skills gaps in support of research with emotional, safety and wellbeing impacts.

We envision this as a first step in a bigger journey to equip researchers with a shared language with which to articulate risks, effective practices to mitigate harm, and critical support to foster a positive, sustainable and ethical research environment at UCD.

Principal Investigator: Sylvia Mehigan 

Co-PI: Dr Alison Reynolds

Project Summary:

In the animal research industry, there is a high level of stress and compassion fatigue due to the challenges faced by staff and researchers when working with and caring for animals. Dealing with any adverse effects on animal welfare and the demands of the research work all contribute to additional work stress. In UCD’s Biomedical Facility we always strive to improve our animal’s welfare and environment. We endeavour to enrich the lives of our research animals, promote a culture of care and implement continuous improvements in support of the 3 R’s (Replacement, Reduction, Refinement,) We strive to promote a culture of care for the humans who work in the facility, and it is from this endeavour that this project has evolved. We plan to develop a program of work to help both staff and researchers in the Biomedical Facility become more aware of the onset of compassion fatigue and stress, to aid with making people aware of the signs to look out for and how to deal with them. This project will train people as Mental Health First Aiders, as well as putting together a program of zoom lectures and reading material for every researcher/staff member using the Biomedical Facility. This material will be available for all BMF staff and users to avail of and available to all new researchers using the facility, so they are more aware of the risks of developing compassion fatigue while working in this environment and be equipped with the tools to deal with it.

Principal Investigator: Assoc Professor Shane Bergin

CoPIs: Professor Niamh Moore Cherry, Ms Caroline Byrne, Dr Rosie Carroll, Ms Dorcas Reamonn

Project Summary:
We propose to produce a pilot podcast series – The Life Academic – that will build a positive research culture in the College of Social Sciences & Law. The seven-part series will explore the work, lives, and motivations of scholars (staff and students). Hosted by Shane Bergin – an award winning podcast host – the series will explore rich aspects of research culture such as the values that underpin peoples’ work; the processes and communities that inform and shape their practice; the importance of belonging and sense of place within the wider research community or university; and research as a public good. Each episode of The Life Academic will follow Dr Bergin having a conversation with someone - going far beyond the usual ‘what is your research about’ framing common to most academic interviews. The focus will be on the stories of peoples’ work, their backgrounds, what motivates them, the highs and lows of their professional lives and how these interplay with their own worldviews and experiences. The Life Academic offers a novel and long-lasting platform for colleagues and students to learn about one another. Through sharing rich stories about our lives as researchers, and the research itself, we offer a form of ‘in-reach’ in UCD that builds a collective sense of who we are and what we care about. The podcast series (which will be available on all podcast platforms) will also build greater public engagement with researchers and our collective enterprise at universities as a trustworthy public good.

Principal Investigator: Dr Kevin Doherty 

Co-PIs: Professor Benjamin Cowan, Dr Madeleine Steeds

Project Summary: 
This project will advance an inclusive Human-Centred Technology Design (HCTD) Research Culture at UCD, supporting engagement and initiating research at the intersection of digital design and human experience across all UCD undergraduates, postgraduates, postdocs and faculty. Many within UCD and beyond are increasingly concerned about our digital futures, and we, as UCD human-computer interaction (HCI) researchers, believe that to realise more desirable, ethical and sustainable futures, it is imperative that we create a culture in which we each have a voice in their design. Prior literature highlights both the challenges and value of interdisciplinary and participatory approaches to technology design [1-4], including the capacity of HCI teaching practices and cultures to lend students the collaborative skills [5-9] essential to advancing more ethical and sustainable digital futures [10-12]. The value of an engaged HCTD research culture has been long recognised by other universities [13], and we have already taken steps towards establishing such a culture at UCD including through the founding of the cross-cutting HCI@UCD research group, and development of several community-engaged learning modules. There yet remains significant scope to provide a more diverse community of students and staff across UCD, the skills and opportunities to engage in HCTD research, as to shape, in other words, our digital futures, together. We will map these challenges and opportunities for inclusive participation in HCTD, investigating how UCD might support a more open and engaged culture of digital technology research and design, learning from existing best practices, and developing our own.

Principal Investigator: Dr Jeremy Auerbach 

Co-PIs: Professor Mary Kelly-Quinn, Dr Emma Dorris, Dr Sheena Hyland, Ms Jane Nolan, Dr Aura Istrate, Dr Elizabeth Bruton

Project Summary: 

Citizen science (CS) is an important vehicle for transdisciplinary research, democratising science and promoting the goal of universal and equitable access to scientific data and information. CS is also increasingly incorporated into fellowships and research funding in Ireland and in the EU. However, there is much to be done at UCD on bringing CS into the classroom, which is a direct path towards more diverse and better research. An audit by UCD Research in 2019 found that while there are several modules identified with an element of public involvement, there is no dedicated engaged research module and the recently established UCD Citizen Science Community of Practice Steering Group has identified an absence of support for the teaching of CS practices in UCD modules. This project–Education to Advance Research in Citizen Science (LEARnS)–focuses on up-skilling UCD staff and future researchers to address this gap and the ultimate aim of LEARnS is to develop a tighter link between UCD Research Culture and UCD teaching. The four objectives of LEARnS are: (1) a workshop of education sessions on embedding CS topics in UCD teaching and learning; (2) a UCD module dedicated on CS; (3) a UCD Virtual Training Hub for CS; and (4) a drat strategy of CS implementation at UCD and integrated into UCD’s Research Culture. LEARnS will increase the confidence of UCD staff with teaching CS, participatory methods, and transdisciplinary research, and LEARnS will become a model for improving CS research within universities across the Island and beyond.

Principal Investigator: Dr Vessela Daskalova

Co-PIs: Dr Oana Peia, Dr Margaret Samahita, Dr Sinéad Flannery, Dr Diogo Geraldes, Yung-Shiang Yang, Dr Marta Talevi, Dr Oscar Barrera Rodríguez

Project Summary: 
Experimentation is a crucial tool for research and collecting causal evidence in various fields such as economics, psychology, environmental science, agriculture, biology, medicine, and many others. Recent concerns about the trustworthiness and replicability of findings in various fields have highlighted that how we do experiments matters. The goal of this proposal is to establish a positive and reflective research culture around experimentation. There are experts across different Schools in UCD for whom experimentation is an important part of research. However, we do not necessarily know much about the best practices of experimental researchers in other disciplines and often also of researchers using different types of experiments within a discipline (laboratory, field, online). We will start a bottom-up discussion from an interdisciplinary group of researchers doing experimentation in order to support each other and learn from our experiences. The format will be through a series of 3 workshops in which we will discuss best practices for experimental research. The first two workshops will be UCD internal, the third one will feature invited speakers from abroad who are key figures from different disciplines in this debate. A positive and reflective research culture will raise questions around the role of pre-registration, replication, publication biases, ethics, pilot experiments, incentivization in experiments, interpretation of findings,
reacting to challenges and learning from failures. A key objective of the proposal is to develop a positive and nurturing research environment for the next generation of researchers.

Principal Investigator: Dr Geraldine Quinn  

Co-PIs: Professor Eileen Gibney, Ms Caitriona Devery, Ms Elaine Quinn

Project Summary 

Being able to share and discuss our work with colleagues, peers, and the public is vital. However, explaining complex topics to diverse audiences is challenging. Communicating research in an engaging, accessible way, whether casually or formally, is a key skill that benefits both researchers and their audiences. This proposal brings together three multi-disciplinary research-active Institutes within UCD (the Earth Institute, the UCD Conway Institute of Biomolecular and Biomedical Research, and the UCD Institute of Food and Health, referred to as the “Research Institutes”) to enhance science communication within the university community and beyond. Recognising the challenge of conveying complex research to diverse audiences, the initiative will empower researchers with storytelling skills to effectively share their work. By fostering confident communication, collaboration, and public engagement, the proposal will create a cohort of skilled science communicators.

The initiative focuses on two objectives: upskilling researchers and providing opportunities to share their research stories. Two workshops will form the core of the training. The first will teach participants to craft compelling stories tailored to scientific contexts, emphasising audience engagement, accessibility, and the use of storytelling elements like character arcs. The second workshop will focus on visual communication, providing skills in graphic design to enhance presentations with impactful visuals. Post-training, researchers will apply their skills through events and gatherings across UCD, showcasing best practices and promoting cross-disciplinary engagement. This approach will strengthen UCD’s research culture, encouraging collaboration and meaningful interactions, both within the academic community and with the broader public.

Principal Investigator: Dr Yunpeng Zhang

Co-PIs: Ms Julia Janiszewska, Dr Aasifa Rounak, Dr Ekin Ozer, Meiyazhagan Jaganathan, Dr Caterina Villani, Yiran Yue, Toka Fahmy Abdelmutleb

Project Summary:

As higher education becomes increasingly transnational, universities are experiencing growing diversity in their student and faculty populations, particularly at institutions with overseas campuses. While transnationalisation of universities offers opportunities for knowledge innovation, it also presents challenges, especially for international students and faculty members. This project addresses these challenges faced by what we term "migrant knowledge workers"—students and faculty—at research-intensive transnational universities, with University College Dublin (UCD) as a case study. The project will examine "arrival infrastructures", which encompass the networks, resources, institutions, policies, and practices that either support or hinder the integration of migrant knowledge workers upon their arrival. Through three work packages and using a mix of text analysis, interviews and focus groups, the project will: (1) map and evaluate existing arrival infrastructures at UCD, (2) identify the challenges and needs of migrant knowledge workers, and (3) develop scalable best practices to improve integration and foster inclusive research cultures. Ultimately, the goal is to enhance UCD’s capacity to support migrant knowledge workers and provide insights to help other transnational universities improve their infrastructures. By promoting professional integration and fostering a more inclusive research environment, the project will contribute to advancing diversity, equality, and collaboration in global academic settings.

Principal Investigator: Assoc Professor Fionnuala Walsh

Co-PIs: Dr Mary Farrelly

Project Summary:

Our project aims to establish a community of practice focussed on developing shared spaces for women’s academic writing in the discipline of arts and humanities at UCD. The community will gather on a monthly basis for a series of day-long academic writing retreats designed specifically to support women scholars in the arts and humanities. These retreats will provide a nurturing environment where women can focus on their scholarly writing projects, receive constructive feedback, share advice and build a supportive network of peers and mentors. These monthly writing retreats will foster collegiality and collaboration among participants from postdoctoral to professorial level and help women to succeed in job, funding, and promotion applications, and improve the diversity of the faculty. The network will also provide a space for women researchers to re-establish their research identities after gaps (family leave, illness, administratively heavy roles etc.). This series of writing retreats will support colleagues in forging the habit of writing and reinforce their identity as researchers. By addressing the particular challenges faced by women in academia, such as imposter syndrome, work-life balance, return-to-work, these retreats aim to empower women to advance their careers and contribute meaningfully to their fields.

Principal Investigator: Gwyneth MacMaster

Co-PIs: Dr Mary Sekiya, Dr Yannick Ortin, Dr David Van Acken, Miss Eimear Ryan, Mr Derek Reilly, Dr Carlotta Sacchi, Ms Kevina McGill, Dr Romina Charifou, Ms Maria Judge, Andrea Ortiz Cuadros, Dr Stephen Kehoe

Project Summary: 

UCD employs approximately 200 Technical Officers, based across Belfield and Lyons farm. There is a wide range of skills and responsibilities across the Technical Officer role, even within an individual school/unit. Roles include teaching support, diagnostic support, research support, technology platform support and field work support. Support is both interdisciplinary and diverse, facilitating research in laboratories, hospitals, computer centres, workshops, plant growth facilities, farms and field sites. This diversity gives Technical Officers a unique position within the University’s research culture. They serve as the backbone of UCD’s research ecosystem, providing essential continuity for research environments and occupying a pivotal role bridging the gap between academic vision and practical execution. Possessing a wide breadth of interdisciplinary skills, they reflect the depth and variety of research being carried out across the university. This interdisciplinarity presents a significant opportunity to enhance UCD’s research culture. By developing and expanding a network of Technical Staff, the skills and knowledge of the technical team will streamline technical support services by sharing best practices, knowledge and experience across the university. This project aims to organise a series of events designed to foster a collaborative network among technical staff across the university. By bringing together individuals from diverse technical roles, we aim to enhance collaboration, innovation, and visibility of the technical community within research culture across the university while also helping UCD to achieve its Strategic Initiatives under the UCD Strategy to 2030 by creating a dynamic research environment where people thrive and bold ideas are realised.

Principal Investigator: Dr Sarah Comyn

CoPIs: Professor P.J. Mathews, Dr Katherine Fama, Ms Caitriona Devery, Dr Nicolas Pillai

Project Summary:

This project would develop, fund, and embed creative-practice initiatives into research culture. This collaborative project between the College of Arts and Humanities (CAH) and the UCD Earth Institute (EI) would build upon existing pockets of creative-critical work within the CAH and Institute: from artists residencies in the Institute to Creative Futures Academy programming, and Engaged Creativity research strand events. The aim of this project is to build a vibrant, pluralistic, cross disciplinary, local research culture that fosters open-exchange and welcomes the new perspectives generated at the intersection of creative and critical praxis. Three initial workshops would focus on partnership development and grant writing, using sandboxing activities and trust and lexicon building exercises to foster cross-disciplinary partnerships. The workshops build creative exchange and train academic and artist participants in creative research methods, funding proposals, and dissemination. These workshops would be followed by a second grant phase to award funding for four new creative-research partnership projects. After independent team work, final projects would be presented in a Research Showcase in the Trapdoor Theatre.

This project takes seriously best practices in creative research, prioritising methodological and impact training, recognition of specialised skill sets in creative practice, and the ethical treatment of artist partners. The proposal recognises current creative-praxis in research initiatives and utilises the newly established Trapdoor Theatre and Creative Arts Research Lab (CARL) to encourage researchers to embrace creative approaches, thereby building a sustainable research culture of creative research practice.

Principal Investigator: Dr Marie-Victoire Guillot-Sestier 

Co-PIs: Assoc Professor John Baugh, Mr Darragh Flood, Miss Mia McCalmont

Project Summary:

The Physiology Research Festival is an innovative two-day event aimed at fostering a collaborative and supportive research culture within the UCD Medicine Physiology section. Scheduled for April 2025, it will bring together undergraduate/postgraduate students, researchers, and academic staff to share and discuss ongoing research in an engaging and interactive manner. Stage 4 Undergraduate Students will present the findings of their 10-week research projects with the broader physiology community. Postgraduate students and post-doctoral researchers will present their research in a poster session in hope to promote research collaborations within the section. PhD students will deliver concise, accessible 'My Thesis in 3' talks about their research to introduce

undergraduates to various research areas within physiology.

The festival will end with an award ceremony highlighting:

• The best Stage 4 Research Project Presentation: Recognising outstanding data presentation and communication skills.
• The best Poster Presentation: Awarded to the top poster across PhD, Masters, and post-doctoral researchers.
• The best 'My Thesis in 3 Minutes' Talk: selected by 3rd-year undergraduate students.
• The best UCD Physiology Logo: A design competition to create a new section logo, fostering a sense of identity and community.

Impact: The festival will enhance community cohesion, promote research collaborations, and create a positive research environment. By involving students early in their academic journey, it seeks to build a supportive network encouraging further studies and research careers in physiology. The festival will celebrate and advance UCD physiology research and potentially inspire other disciplines within the broader UCD community to foster interdisciplinary collaborations.

Principal Investigator: Audrey Plan 

Co-PIs: Dr Sara M. Esteves, Dr Dorota Kolbuk

Project Summary:

A series of interdisciplinary seminars entirely led by UCD Early Career Researchers (ECRs), held primarily in UCD with partnerships beyond the University. The goal is to strengthen research excellence among the next generation of academics, foster interdisciplinary communication, research skills and opportunities across various UCD Colleges, and develop a cooperative and collegial research environment empowering young researchers at UCD.

The Research Culture Survey 2023 shows that more than other researchers, ECRs feel that their contributions to the research community are not valued, and that they are not aware of research opportunities beyond their own School. Additionally, the Research Staff Association’s (RSA) Postdoc Experience Survey 2024 has highlighted the isolation many postdocs feel, and confirmed the sense of under-appreciation as members of the UCD Community. Yet, when presented with opportunities to share their work and connect with each other, ECRs show tremendous interest, as demonstrated by very successful postdocs-lead initiatives such as Pints of Postdocs and Hops and Hypotheses, or ReCLAIM-funded project The Generator. The Postdocs Spotlights will build on these experiences, encouraging ECRs to connect with others outside of their own school, finding similarly-minded ECRs and more senior academics who share research interests but bring different disciplinary perspectives.