SETU researchers have been awarded Government of Ireland Scholarship funding to advance cutting-edge research
South East Technological University (SETU) is delighted to announce that three of our researchers have been awarded prestigious Government of Ireland Postgraduate Scholarship awards. These awards, provided through the Department of Further and Higher Education, Research, Innovation and Science, reflect a significant national investment in early-career researchers, fostering talent across a diverse range of disciplines.
This year’s funding announcement represents a total investment of €27.5 million, allocated across 290 projects. The Government of Ireland Postgraduate Scholarship scheme, supported by three strategic funding partners, empowers exceptional early-career researchers to pursue high-impact studies in fields spanning the sciences, engineering, arts, and humanities. This highly competitive programme is designed to cultivate high-level skills and expertise, addressing both current and emerging challenges across industry, academia, the public sector, and civil society.
SETU postgraduate researchers Denise McAllister Wylie, Md Shamsuzzaman and Brian Mulhare are among the successful awardees for 2024.
The highly competitive programme enables the development of high-level skills and knowledge for current and future challenges across a variety of settings, including industry, the public sector, civil society and academia.
Please take a moment to read Denise, MD and Brian's profiles below.
“We are immensely proud of our researchers who have been recognised by the Government of Ireland Postgraduate Scholarship awards. Their success exemplifies SETU’s commitment to supporting research that drives both academic excellence and tangible societal benefits. This funding not only validates their potential but also enhances SETU’s role in fostering innovation with lasting regional and global impact.”
Prof Marie Claire Van Hout, Vice President for Research, Innovation and Impact at SETU
Md Shamsuzzaman is a PhD Candidate at SETU, where he is studying the ecohydrology of drained peatlands undergoing restoration. Growing up in Bangladesh, he discovered his passion for ecosystem research while studying the biogeochemistry of paddy soils as an undergraduate in soil science. After earning a degree in business and project management in Finland, he pursued natural resource management and aquatic ecology. Fieldwork in Norway and Iceland on forest and aquatic ecology projects reaffirmed his commitment to ecosystem research, leading him to enroll in a research master’s program in forest and peatland ecology at the University of Helsinki in Finland in 2016.
Md commented, "I am incredibly grateful to Research Ireland for funding my research and to my supervisors for their invaluable guidance and support. This award marks an exciting step forward in peatland restoration, contributing to climate change mitigation and biodiversity. I look forward to making a meaningful impact together."
Brian Mulhare is a PhD candidate within the Department of Sport and Exercise Science at SETU and his work is integrated in the Centre for Health Behaviour Research. He completed his undergraduate degree in Exercise and Health Studies at SETU (then WIT) before completing a research master's at Mary Immaculate College. His masters research focused on the evaluation of the national Be Active After School programme. He then returned to SETU as a research assistant working across two projects; one of which aimed to integrate an exercise professional into mental health services in Ireland and the second, evaluated a telehealth intervention for older adults. His PhD encompasses the development and evaluation of the WISE Intervention (Wellness and Independence through Strength and Exercise). Strength training is an important tool to sustain independence into older age and to promote health aging. However, participation in strength training among older adults is low. In a series of studies, Brian’s PhD sets out to i) understand the barriers to participation in strength training among older adults; ii) develop, in collaboration with an expert panel, a patient-centred, theory informed strength training intervention; iii) evaluate the effect of the intervention on long-term participation in strength training, functional capacity and quality of life among older adults. The intervention will adopt a tapered supervision model, whereby direct supervision by an exercise professional will be systematically withdrawn as the competency and self-efficacy develop, thereby promoting independent participation in strength training and increasing the likelihood of sustained health benefits.
Recipient of an SETU President’s Scholarship, Denise McAllister-Wylie is a PhD candidate, researching inclusive internationalisation in the Irish HEI context. Prior to this, she was an English for Academic Purposes lecturer at Maastricht University (UM), where she also ran intercultural communication CPD, workshops, and lectures. She was also a member of the Maastricht University International Classroom Taskforce and was the Maastricht University team lead on the IntlUni (intluni.eu) and TAEC (TAEC – University of Copenhagen (ku.dk)) EU-funded internationalisation projects.
Expressing her joy at the news, Denise commented, "I'm honoured to be among the recipients of this prestigious award. This funding will allow me to continue my research on Inclusive Internationalisation in Irish Higher Education, investigating transparency, equity, access, and engagement in internationalisation opportunities at our universities."
