Charles Parsons Energy Research Awards
The Charles Parsons Energy Research Awards were established by the Minister for Communications, Marine and Natural Resources, Mr Noel Dempsey, TD, in October 2006. The objective of the awards is to stimulate and develop energy research in Ireland by providing funding for research groups to undertake energy research particularly in priority areas. A specific aim is to increase significantly overall research capacity and in particular attract more engineers into energy research.
The initiative was named after Charles Parsons (1854-1931), who in 1884 invented the steam turbine, which made affordable electricity readily available. He was raised and educated in Birr Co. Offaly, the son of the Earl of Rosse.
Seven Research Groups/Centres were funded through the Programme. The research groups /centres comprising senior researchers, PhD studentships and undergraduate summer placement students are located in Higher Education Institutions on the island of Ireland (32 counties) and have the capacity to conduct innovative research and provide research training. The following are the research group/centres supported under the scheme and their parent universities.
In May 2008, Science Foundation Ireland assumed administrative responsibility for the Charles Parsons Awards.
Charles Parsons Energy Research Awards
Bioresources Research
Centre (BRC)
University College
Dublin
Head of Group: Prof Shane Ward
Electricity Research Centre
(ERC)
University College
Dublin
Head of Group: Prof Mark O'Malley
Electrical Power &
Energy Systems Research Cluster
Queens University Belfast
Head of Group: Dr
John Morrow
Co-PI: Dr Damien Flynn
Hydraulics & Maritime Research
Centre
University College
Cork
Head of Group: Dr Tony Lewis
Centre for Sustainable
Technologies (CST)
University
of Ulster
Head of Group: Dr Neil J. Hewitt
Microbial
Bioenergy Group (MB)
National
University of Ireland, Galway
Head of Group: Dr Vincent
O'Flaherty
Co-PI: Dr Donal Leach
Charles Parsons Research Initiative
& Graduate School
University of
Limerick
Head of Group: Prof Julian Ross
Co-PI: Dr Martin Leahy
