Fifty UCD ‘exceptional’ early-career researchers awarded Government of Ireland funding

Posted 4 November, 2024

Fifty postgrad and postdoc projects at University College Dublin have received funding as a part of a €27.5 million investment by Research Ireland.

The large cohort are part of 290 projects that will be funded under this year’s Government of Ireland postgraduate scholarship and postdoctoral fellowship programmes, which aim to support “exceptional” early-career researchers to pursue and implement their research.

Some of the UCD Postgraduate Scholarship Programme awardees include:

• Michele Derrico – ‘Addressing Conspiracy Theories With Generative AI: Building Resilience in Social Networks via Strategic Inoculation’
• Caimin Mc Kenna – ‘Next-generation space instrument development for gamma-ray astrophysics’
• Colin Brock – ‘Ecosystem engineers in overdrive: Examining deer impact on Irish biodiversity’
• Emma Cadoria – ‘Developing novel therapeutic strategies for the treatment of de novo SPG3A’
• Jiajia Wei – ‘The effect of ionic liquids on bio-membrane and live cell elasticity and viscoelasticity by means of neutron scattering and atomic force microscopy’
• Mia McCalmont – ‘The role of hypoxia and hypercapnia in a skeletal muscle exercise model’
• Nawal Ashraf – ‘Lithium Niobate Templates for Electro-optics and Catalysis’

The 2024 awards will fund 80 postdoctoral fellows and 210 postgraduate scholars, including 10 postgraduate scholarships that were made in collaboration with the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), the Department of Children, Equality, Disability, Integration and Youth, and the Department of Foreign Affairs (DFA).

Some of the UCD Postdoctoral Fellowship Programme awardees are:

• Alexis Delamare – ‘The Role of Desire in the Experience of Value: A Defense of Axiological Conativism’
• Anh-Quân Nguyen – ‘The Agency, Emotions and Language of Climate Activism’
• Carline Klijnman – ‘When Citizens Don’t Know Whom to Believe: Failures in the Testimonial Exchange of Political Information and Its Implications for Epistemic Democracy’
• Golla Ramesh – ‘Asymmetric synthesis and applications of P-stereogenic compounds’ 
• Grace Nolan – ‘Assessing Public Perceptions and Knowledge of Irish Biodiversity’

Announcing the funding, Minister for Further and Higher Education, Research, Innovation and Science Patrick O’Donovan TD said it represented a  “very significant investment in top research talent”.

“Ireland has a strong reputation for research and innovation and it is vital that we continue to invest in future research leaders who, together, can play a key role in addressing the many challenges we face and the opportunities open to us.

“The ability to attract and retain excellent researchers within Ireland is key to the success of our knowledge economy for the long-term, and the Government of Ireland programme supports this aim.”

Celine FitzGerald, Interim CEO of Research Ireland, added: “A diverse range of early-career researchers working across a spectrum of disciplines will benefit from this funding, including awardees funded by the programme’s valued partners.

“The 290 awardees have demonstrated through rigorous international assessment the quality of their projects and the capacity to contribute new insights and solutions to technological, scientific, environmental, social and cultural challenges.”

By:  David Kearns, Digital Journalist / Media Officer, UCD University Relations (with materials from Caroline Byrne, UCD Research and Innovation)

To contact the UCD News & Content Team, email: newsdesk@ucd.ie