Ireland and China announce first round of funding awards under joint research collaboration fund

Science Foundation Ireland (SFI), the National Foundation for Excellence in Scientific Research today announced funding for the first group of collaborative research projects to be awarded under the €1 million Ireland-China Research Collaboration Fund Agreement, (See below for a detailed list of grantees.)

The fund provides for the exchange of leading researchers at third level institutions in Ireland and China working in the fields underpinning biotechnology, Information and Communications Technology (ICT) and New Materials Technology. The Irish element of the fund is administered by the Royal Irish Academy (RIA) on SFI’s behalf.

The Agreement was signed in December 2002 and is funded by Science Foundation Ireland (SFI) and the Ministry of Science and Technology (MOST) of the People’s Republic of China.

Dr. William C. Harris, Director General of SFI, said the grants would increase the extent and the quality of exchange between the two countries. “The goal of this agreement is to build links between Irish academic research leaders and their Chinese counterparts with a view to encouraging and sustaining research excellence in fields of investigation that are vital to both China and Ireland. SFI is delighted to support these partnerships. We trust that they will be of benefit to both our countries in the future,” he added.

The Chinese Ambassador, His Excellency, Dr. Sha Hailin, on behalf of MOST, commented: “The awards made under the Ireland-China Research Collaboration Fund Agreement are part of our ongoing efforts to build thriving and successful collaborative research links between our two countries. These links will be further enhanced by these grants.”

Dr. Jim Slevin, Science Secretary of the RIA, said: “The quality of the successful applicants reflects the fact that there was a strong response to the open call for proposals. Selection was based on scientific merit, value for money and the potential for building positive links between different research groups in the two countries. We are confident that these awards will sustain fruitful partnerships between researchers in the two countries.”

Collaborative Grants Awarded in 2004 Information and Communications Technology

Professor Thomas J. Brazil, Department of Electronic & Electrical Engineering, University College Dublin
Advanced Wireless Communications.

Dr. Xiaojun Wang, School of Electronic Engineering, Dublin City University
Research on Optimized Processing in Network Processor Units for High-Performance Routers.

Dr. Andy Way, School of Computing, Dublin City University
English-Chinese Example-Based Machine Translation via the Web

Biotechnology

Professor Ann Burnell, Department of Biology, National University of Ireland Maynooth
Mass storage of bioinsecticidal nematodes by osmotic dehydration and the characterization of the novel osmolarity-inducible genes.

Professor J.M.D Coey, Department of Physics, Trinity College Dublin
Electron-spin transport properties of laterally-patterned nanostructures

Professor Fergal O'Gara, Department of Microbiology, University College Cork
Bacterial Signalling in Microbial-Host Interactions.

Dr. Catherine O'Reilly, Department of Chemical & Life Sciences, Waterford Institute of Technology
Enantioselective Biotransformations of Nitriles and Amides Utilizing Recombinant Strains and Purified Enzymes.

Dr. Abhay Pandit, National Centre for Biomedical Engineering Science, NUI Galway
Establishment of a Research Network for Development of Novel Biomaterials Technology for Tissue Engineering Applications (BIOMAT).