Robust and competitive research will drive Ireland’s economic development - Sherlock
Minister Sherlock announces €15 million investment in 79 Science Foundation Ireland projects
The Minister for Research and Innovation, Mr Seán Sherlock T.D., today (Wednesday) announced Government funding of €15 million to be provided over the next four years for 79 research projects as part of Science Foundation Ireland’s 2011 Research Frontiers Programme.
Making the announcement, Minister Sherlock said: “It is vital that Ireland has a robust and competitive research environment that contributes to economic recovery. The projects announced today are very much part of this drive to further build Ireland’s research capability in support of our economic development. Science Foundation Ireland is a key organisation in driving this in terms of indentifying opportunities for top-class research in Ireland.”
Minister Sherlock added “These projects are of direct relevance to our daily lives. Discoveries that can be achieved in these sectors will have an impact on computer science, the environment, health and other important fields with the potential to create and sustain top-quality jobs in Ireland.”
Welcoming Ireland’s continued improvement in the world innovation rankings, up from 19th in 2010 to 13th in the 2011 Global Innovation Index, Minister Sherlock said: “achieving international recognition for our continued improvement in innovation is a long-term and constant challenge. Innovation is fundamental to building a sound economy for the 21st century which will lead to the creation of new and better jobs”.
The SFI funding to 15 research bodies will support the development of Ireland’s human capital by providing employment and training to 94 researchers, mainly PhD students.
Amongst the successful projects to be funded involve cutting-edge research related to optical sensors, energy/solar cells, cyber security, renewable gas, high-speed wireless communication interfaces and an integrated volcanic ash forecasting system. Also included are a number of health research projects linked to Cancer, Inflammatory Bowel Disease, Schizophrenia, Inflammation of the brain, Urinary Incontinence, Type-2 Diabetes and Cystic Fibrosis.
Dr Graham Love, Director of Policy & Communications, SFI, said “A significant number of the awards announced today provide support to early-career researchers with the aim of helping our most promising minds to build their research careers here in Ireland and contribute their ideas and talent to the economy.”
Dr Love added “The 79 projects have been selected following a rigorous review to ensure that only the highest quality projects are supported. SFI received 291 applications and these were evaluated by 123 international researchers. This process is endorsed by the success of the funding provided to date. Projects supported under the Research Frontiers Programme have contributed significantly to Ireland’s scientific reputation and economic development through 67 industry collaborations, 436 collaborations with overseas research bodies and the publication of 499 scientific papers.”
RFP 2011 Awardees
| Full Name | Institution | Title |
| Prof. Frederic Adam | UCC | Pervasive Decision Support Systems within a Remote Patient Monitoring Environment (pDSS) |
| Dr. Mauro Adamo | RCSI | Enantioselective synthesis of Montelukast and 6-Gingesulfonic acid |
| Dr. Elke Karin Arendt | UCC | Novel antifungal agents derived from lactic acid bacteria for the biological control of potato blight |
| Prof. Eugene Benilov | UL | The pull-up problem for viscous capillary liquids |
| Dr. Arun Bokde | TCD | Brain Substrates Supporting Working Memory: Impact of APOE e4 allele and Normal Ageing |
| Dr. Pieter Brama | UCD | Unravelling the interzone: a biomimicry solution for difficulties in cartilage tissue engineering? |
| Dr. Dmitri Bulushev | UL | The catalytic conversion of levulinic acid derived from biomass to fuel additives |
| Dr. Paul Callanan | UCC | The mass distribution of Galactic neutron stars and black holes |
| Dr. Veronica Campbell | TCD | Development of a cannabinoid eluting scaffold for orthopaedic tissue engineering strategies |
| Dr. Eoin Casey | UCD | Mechanisms of biofilm mediated fouling on nanofiltration membranes applied to micropollutant removal |
| Dr. Gordon Chambers | DIT | Investigation and Development of Methods to Identify and Assess Potential Risks associated with the use of Metal Nanoparticle Additives in Food and Food Contact Materials. |
| Dr. Biqiong Chen | TCD | Tough healable polymer-graphene hydrogels |
| Dr. Siobhán Clarke | TCD | Slice-Oriented Programming for Timely, Dynamic Service-Oriented Composition |
| Prof. Tom Coffey | UL | A New Automated Logic Theory with Attack Detection Capability for the Formal Analysis of Security Protocols |
| Prof. Stephen Daly | UCD | A lower crustal xenolith perspective on the composition, tectonic history and economic significance of a major continental suture zone |
| Dr. Henrietta Dickinson | NUIM | An investigation into the distribution of the roots of integer polynomials |
| Dr. Derek Doherty | TCD | The influence of V#9V#2 T cells on antigen presentation and antibody production |
| Eilís Dowd | NUIG | Harnessing Adult Stem Cells for Neurotrophin Delivery to the Degenerating Brain |
| Andrea Erxleben | NUIG | Functionalized locked nucleic acids that cleave the RNA component of human telomerase |
| Dr. Mauro Ferreira | TCD | Strain-induced enhancement of the magnetic response in low-dimensional carbon-based materials |
| Dr. Mark Flanagan | UCD | Performance Characterization of Low-Density Code Ensembles |
| Dane Flannery | NUIG | A new foundation for computing with linear groups over infinite domains |
| Dr. Vladimir Gubala | DCU | Synthesis of novel molecules for specific recognition of DNA G-quadruplex structure: Rapid analysis of the binding phenomenon based on quenching of labeled telomeric DNA on Au surface. |
| Dr. Cathal Gurrin | DCU | Memory Mesh: Applying WWW search and Cognitive Psychology to e-memories |
| Dr. Lorraine Hanlon | UCD | 'A Gamma-Ray Concentrator for Applications in Nuclear Astrophysics and Medicine |
| Dr. Graham M. Harper | TCD | New Windows into Stellar Atmospheres: The New Era of Sub-Millimetre, Millimetre, and Centimetre Radio Interferometry |
| Dr. Mark Hollywood | DKIT | Molecular mechanisms underlying action of novel BK channel activators |
| Dr. Marcel Jansen | UCC | UV-B radiation: a specific regulator of plan growth and development |
| Dr. Edward Johns | UCC | Angiotensin 1-7 and its impact on renal function in hypertension |
| Dr. James Jones | UCD | The effect of sacral neuromodulation on inputs to the somatosensory cortex |
| Dr. Fintan Kelleher | IT Tallaght | Improving the Therapeutic Potential of Lantibiotic Peptides |
| Dr. James Kennedy | AIT | The development of a polymeric site specific delivery device to aid in the treatment of irritable bowel syndrome using alternative therapeutic agents |
| Dr. Christian Kerskens | TCD | Development of new cerebral perfusion biomarkers |
| Prof. Stephen Kirkland | NUIM | Essentially Nonnegative Matrices in Control and Engineering |
| Dr. Elfed Lewis | UL | Security Enabled Pervasive Biometric Sensors |
| Dr. Fiona Lyng | DIT | Predicting patient radiosensitivity and radiotherapeutic outcome with Raman microspectroscopy |
| Dr. Celine Marmion | RCSI | Exploiting Chromatin as a New Molecular Target for the Development of Novel Metallochemotherapeutics with Enhanced Selectivity and Activity Towards Cancer Cells |
| Dr. Zdenek Martinec | DIAS | Combined glacial-isostatic adjustment and thermomechanical ice-sheet modelling to reconcile ice-mass variations inferred from sea-level and satellite observations (GIANICE) |
| Dr. Siobhán McClean | IT Tallaght | The role of bacterial outer membrane proteins in the pathogenesis of chronic lung infection: Potential vaccine candidates or novel drug targets |
| Dr. Margaret Mc Gee | UCD | The characterisation of cyclophilin A as a novel regulator of cytokinesis |
| Prof. John McGilp | TCD | Band structure engineering of atomic wires on semiconductor surfaces |
| Dr. Jennifer McManus | NUIM | A Chemical and Biophysical Approach to Understanding Protein Condensation |
| Dr. Kieran Meade | Teagasc | DISTINCT INTERLEUKIN-8 PROMOTER HAPLOTYPES - FUNCTIONAL IMPLICATIONS FOR EXPRESSION, NEUTROPHIL RECRUITMENT AND S. AUREUS SURVIVAL IN CATTLE. |
| Dr. Matthias Moebius | TCD | The flow of dense emulsions - from droplet rearrangements to the bulk response |
| Dr. Gary Moran | TCD | Control of TOR kinase: the key to host-pathogen interactions in Candida albicans? |
| Dr. Ewen Mullins | Teagasc | Developing a novel technology platform for the genetic transformation of plant and fungal cells |
| Dr. Jerry Murphy | UCC | Optimal production of renewable gas |
| Prof. Fergal O'Brien | RCSI | Development of a gene-activated smart scaffold for bone repair |
| Conor O'Byrne | NUIG | Stress perception in the human pathogen Listeria monocytogenes: seeing the light |
| Colin O'Dowd | NUIG | (INFORM) Integrated volcanic ash forecasting system |
| Dr. Sandra O'Neill | DCU | Identification of a biological role for innate immune genes implicated in progression to chronic HCV infection |
| Dr. Jacintha O'Sullivan | TCD | Importance of random mitochondrial mutations during disease progression in Barrett's Oesophgus |
| Dr. Francesca Paradisi | UCD | Towards the development of robust bio-catalysts: halophilic alcohol dehydrogenases from Haloferax volcanii |
| Dr. Davide Pisani | NUIM | Molecular Palaeobiology of early arthropod terrestrialisation: understanding how animals first colonised the lands by combining genomics and palaeontological data |
| Zoe Adelaide Popper | NUIG | Characterisation of algal cell wall components for future biotechnological applications |
| Dr. James Power | NUIM | Consistency of Software Artefacts in a Model Oriented Environment |
| Dr. Alexei Pozdnoukhov | NUIM | Learning Human Spatial Dynamics |
| Nathan Quinlan | NUIG | Towards a non-thrombogenic prosthetic mechanical heart valve: measurement of hinge flow fields at microscale resolution |
| Dr. Tom Ray | DIAS | Tracing the Origin of Jets from Young Stars |
| Dr. Emer Reeves | RCSI | Increased cholesterol alters lipid raft structure of circulating neutrophils in cystic fibrosis |
| Dr. James Rice | UCD | Imaging using nano-void array materials |
| Michelle Roche | NUIG | Endocannabinoid regulation of neuroinflammatory responses following bacterial and viral infection |
| Dr. Isabel Rozas | TCD | Platinum complexes of guanidinium based DNA minor-groove binders: conjugating forces towards better anticancer agents |
| Dr. Albert Ruth | UCC | Anti-Stokes fluorescence of organic dyes: potential new materials for laser cooling in solids |
| Dr. Sinéad Ryan | TCD | Heavy quark physics in finite temperature lattice QCD |
| Gerhard Schlosser | NUIG | Evolutionary innovation by rewiring of gene networks - Origin of sense organs in the vertebrate New Head |
| Prof. Samson Shatashvili | TCD | Quantum Integrability, Gauge Theories and Topological Strings |
| Dr. Stefan Sint | TCD | A strongly interacting electroweak symmetry breaking sector |
| Dr. Jon-Ivar Skullerud | NUIM | Phase structure of strongly interacting matter at high density |
| Dr. Helena Smigoc | UCD | Positivity in Matrix Theory |
| Dr. Richard Smith | UCD | Descriptive set theory and infinite-dimensional geometry |
| Cindy J Smith | NUIG | Pathogen detection, survival and sheltering in a model water distribution system |
| Dr. Gavin Stewart | UCD | Urea transporters in the human colon |
| Dr. Derek Sullivan | TCD | The role of a novel telomere-associated (TLO) gene family in fungal pathogenesis |
| Prof. Richard Timoney | TCD | Problems associated with bounded symmetric domains |
| Dr. Dean Venables | UCC | A steeply rising tail: Quantifying the absorption of organic aerosols in the near-ultraviolet |
| Dr. William Wright | UCC | Ultrasecure short-range wireless communication using ultrasound |
| Dr. Dominic Zerulla | UCD | Sensitized Solar Cells: Plasmonic Enhancement and Nanoscale Architectures |
| Dr. Domenico Zito | TYN | Building-blocks Enabling CMOS High-speed Wireless |
