15 researchers secured funding for projects covering a range of topics from water pollution and academia to machine learning and satellite technology.
The Irish Research Council has today (30.09.22) announced €27m in funding for new research projects under the Irish Research Council (IRC)’s flagship Government of Ireland programmes. The investment will fund 316 awards in total, namely 239 postgraduate scholarships and 77 postdoctoral fellowships.
A total of 15 researchers from South East Technological University (SETU) secured funding under the Government of Ireland Programmes including 14 Government of Ireland Postgraduate scholarships and one Government of Ireland Postdoctoral Fellowship, the first for SETU. The successful research projects will cover a range of disciplines, and timely and relevant topics from water pollution and academia to machine learning and satellite technology.
The School of Humanities at SETU Waterford was delighted to see four researchers successful in their application for the IRC Government of Ireland Postgraduate funding:
Hunger for Food, Hunger for Life: The Inner Spiritual World of Women who have overcome eating disorders is the title of Tara Travers research project, supervised by Dr Bernadette Flanagan.
More than Rucksack and Hiking Boots: An Investigation of Spiritual Practices which can enrich the Experience of Pilgrims walking Pilgrimage Routes in the South East of Ireland is the title of Liz Murray’s research project also supervised by Dr Bernadette Flanagan.
Triumphs and tribulations: understanding academia as a site for activism is the title of Jordan Kirwan’s project supervised by Dr Jennifer O Mahoney.
Embedding a culture of internationalisation into the curriculum through ‘Internationalisation at home’- Preparation for the changing context of Higher Education in Ireland is the title of Nidhi Piplani Kapur’s research project supervised by Dr Don O'Neill.
The School of Science and Computing at SETU Waterford also achieved two successful applications:
An investigation into the genomic and proteomic effects of heavy metal exposure to the hyperaccumulator plants Eichhornia crassipes and Pistia stratiotes is the title of Tapiwa Nyakauru’s research project supervised by Dr David O'Neill.
Aerosol jet printing of dissolving microneedle array for the transdermal delivery of therapeutic peptides is the title of Hilkiah Ako’s research project supervised by Dr Niall O'Reilly.
There were an impressive five successful funding applications from engCore - Centre of Research and Enterprise in Engineering - at SETU Carlow.
Development of Unmanned Air System Prototype for General Visual Inspection purposes utilising Machine Learning Models for flight path control and defect acquisition and analysis is the title of Luke Connolly’s project supervised by Dr Edmond Tobin.
Analysis of the zero-shot learning capabilities of pre-trained Deep Metric Learning Models for computer vision applications on Network Edge Devices is the title of Ryan Furlong’s research project supervised by Dr Vincent O’ Brien.
Development of a methodology of mapping seaweed in the intertidal zone of the coastline of Ireland by combination of hyperspectral, satellite and multispectral imagery is the title of Damir Akhmetshin’s research project supervised by Dr Owen Naughton.
Design & Applications of Air-breathing Propulsion System for Very Low and Super Low Earth Orbit Satellites is the title of Nishita Ravuri’s research project supervised by Dr Ashish Vashishtha.
Green Propellant for future small satellite launch vehicle is the title of Rushikesh Kore’s research project also supervised by Dr Ashish Vashishtha.
enviroCORE - Centre of Research and Enterprise in BioEnvironmental Technologies - at SETU Carlow saw three research projects secure funding including two Government of Ireland Postgraduate and one Government of Ireland Postdoctoral Fellowship.
Development of Nutraceuticals from by-products from the brewing industry is the title of Jiao Zhang’s research project supervised by Dr Adriana Cunha Neves.
Exploitation of plant and rhizosphere microbiome of Alder (Alnus glutinosa) trees to isolate potential bio-agents for improved disease tolerance against Alder dieback caused by Phytophthora alni is the title of Emma Fuller’s research project supervised by Dr Kieran Germaine.
Development of the nematode Steinernema feltiae as a sentinel organism for heavy metal toxicity with international accreditation is the title of Dr Tognisse Anique Godjo’s postdoctoral research project supervised by Dr Thomae Kakouli-Duarte.
From SocioCORE - Centre of Research and Enterprise for Applied Social Studies - at SETU Carlow Muireann Ranta was proud to secure funding for her research project Listening to the voices of young children in education for climate action: a child rights-based, participatory study under Article 29 1 e of the UN Convention on the Rights of the Child supervised by Dr Niamh McCrea.
Congratulating the awardees, Dr Geraldine Canny, Head of Research, SETU Waterford said, "The high success rate in these competitive postgraduate scholarships and postdoctoral fellowships across a range of disciplines is testimony to the quality of research being carried out at SETU. We are also delighted that a postdoctoral fellowship was awarded under this programme, as it is a first for SETU. I wish all awardees every success in conducting innovative and impactful research.”
Speaking of the success Brian Jackson, Head of Postgraduate Studies, SETU Carlow said, “It is great to see the quality, focus, and dedication of our research student body is being recognised by external funding bodies such as the Irish Research Council.”