In total €14.3m is being provided by the EPA for 33 new research projects to address climate and environmental challenges.
Speaking about the importance of this funding, Eamon Ryan, Minister for Transport, the Environment, Climate and Communications, commented, “Climate change is the most pressing global challenge of our time. This funding will enable cutting-edge, multidisciplinary research to be conducted in addressing issues in environmental sustainability and climate change. Ireland needs to be a leader in addressing the climate crisis, and I believe that research projects will play a part in meeting that challenge.”
According to Laura Burke, EPA Director General: “This EPA funding will help to build transdisciplinary research capacity and talent in Ireland in key areas relating to sustainability transitions and societal transformations. These specialist skills and expertise are essential to enable Ireland to effectively leverage the full range of environmental, economic, and societal opportunities offered by the green transition. I congratulate the successful research teams and look forward to seeing the project outputs making a positive contribution to environmental protection in the years ahead.”
Under the EPA Research programme, Dr Claire Keary, an experienced researcher and lecturer in the Department of Science at SETU, has been awarded €575,128 in funding for her research in ‘Gamma Radiation Dose Evaluation (GRaDE)’. Through the analysis of soil samples and direct gamma dose rate measurements, the GRaDE project will identify pressures, inform policy, and develop solutions that will inform radiation safety issues in Ireland. The GRaDE project will also bring together a multi-disciplinary team of researchers from SETU, UCD and UoG that will interact and collaborate with the EPA.
Mr Robin Stubbs, Research Lead and Lecturer at SETU’s Dept, of Architecture and Built Environment has secured €590,558 for his research project entitled ‘Cúpla Trá: Combining digital twin technology with landscape biography for environmental analysis of a coastal region”. The project focuses on the Back Strand at Tramore beach in Co. Waterford and using exciting digital twin technology, Dr Stubbs and his team aim to predict future conditions and changes to the landscape at the sand dunes.
Dr Geraldine Canny, Head of Research at SETU said, “We are delighted that these projects will be funded by the EPA and I would like to congratulate the awardees. This funding will allow our talented researchers to further their important, societally relevant and interdisciplinary work in the areas of climate change and the environment.”
The EPA Research Programme is a Government of Ireland initiative funded by the Department of the Environment, Climate and Communications. The EPA Research Call 2024 will open for applications in April 2024. Details will be made available on the EPA Website.