SETU's annual Research Excellence Awards recognise the outstanding contributions of academic and research staff for excellent and innovative research.
The annual awards ceremony will be held this year on our campus at Kilkenny Road, Carlow, where SETU President, Prof. Veronica Campbell will present the awards. The initiative gives staff across SETU the opportunity to nominate colleagues for Excellence Awards in recognition of their contributions to research at the University.
Celebrating impactful research
The Research Excellence Awards are an essential event of the University's culture of research and innovation where we celebrate the impactful research developments at SETU by our engaged community. Speaking about the awards, SETU Vice President for Research, Innovation and Impact (RII), Prof Marie Claire Van Hout commented, "As SETU continues to grow as a leading research-active technological university, we are proud to recognise and celebrate the outstanding achievements of our researchers through the upcoming Research Excellence Awards. These awards highlight the incredible talent and dedication within SETU, showcasing how our research drives innovation and makes a tangible impact in our region."
Nominations
Launched on 7 October 2024, SETU staff were invited to nominate colleagues under four categories, as follows:
- Early Career Researcher Award (Max. 5 years post-PhD)
- Recognition of research excellence commensurate with career stage.
- To qualify for this category, nominees must be a contract researcher within 5 years of PhD conferral date or an Assistant Lecturer/Lecturer/Senior Lecturer within 5 years of PhD conferral date.
- Established Researcher Award (Over 5 years post-PhD)
- Recognition of distinguished achievements/outstanding contributions at an established career stage.
- To qualify for this category, nominees must be a contract researcher or an Assistant Lecturer/Lecturer/Senior Lecturer with more than 5 years of post-PhD experience or a Senior Lecturer or Professor (irrespective of PhD conferral date, Senior Lecturers/Professors must be nominated under the Established Researcher category).
- Research Impact Award (2 awards)
- Recognition of distinguished achievements/outstanding contributions and impactful research, irrespective of career stage.
- To qualify for this category, nominees must be a contract researcher (including Postdoctoral fellows) or an Assistant Lecturer/Lecturer/Senior Lecturer.
- There are two categories for this award: Research Impact- Industry and commercialisation and the Research Impact- Policy and practice
- Research Supervision Award
- This award category aims to recognise, encourage and reward sustained excellence in postgraduate Research Masters/PhD student supervision.
The evaluation process
All SETU employees, including contract research staff, were eligible for nomination. Evaluations have been conducted by a panel comprised of 4 internal evaluators. The research office reviewed each nomination for eligibility within the context of the award category selected as detailed above. Selected nominations underwent a three-stage evaluation consisting of two rounds of crossover reviews by nominated senior researchers within Schools or Facilities. The third stage contained a review by the Office of RII team and an external reviewer.
And the nominees are...
Early Career Researcher:
| Dr James Cullen |
| Dr Aisling McGrath |
| Dr Lilibeth A. Zambrano M. |
| Dr James Garland |
| Dr Niamh O'Brien |
| Dr Arun Sankar Muttathu Sivansankara Pillai |
Established Researcher:
| Professor Gillian Gardiner |
| Dr Owen Naughton |
| Dr Denise O'Meara |
| Dr Ashish Vashishtha |
| Dr PJ White |
| Dr Haider Al-Juboori |
| Dr Ondrej Kucera |
| Dr Wanan Sheng |
| Dr Edmond Tobin |
| Dr Pat Chambers |
Research Impact; Industry and commercialisation:
| Dr David Culliton |
| Dr Ultan McCarthy |
| Dr Adriana Cunha Neves |
Research Impact; Policy & Practice:
| Dr Sharon Kinsella |
| Dr Ashish Vashishtha |
| Dr PJ White |
| Dr Mike Kinsella |
| James Clarke |
Research Supervisor:
| Dr Leana Reinl |
| Dr Susan Flynn |
| Dr Owen Naughton |
| Dr Graece Tan (Shiau Pin) |
| Dr Mark Wylie |
| Dr Don O'Neill |
| Dr David O'Neill |
| Dr James Garland |
For more information, and to view a list of past winners, please click here.