Strong recognition of Trinity research in SFI Frontiers for the Future Programme awards

Posted on: 02 November 2020

Minister for Further and Higher Education, Research, Innovation and Science, Simon Harris, TD, has announced 71 grants valued at €53 million to support frontiers research across 12 Higher Education Institutions through Science Foundation Ireland.

Trinity College research has been awarded grants for 21 programmes and projects, accounting for nearly 30% of all funding awarded.

Working across 12 Higher Education Institutes, 231 research positions will be funded including 95 Postdoctoral scientists, 101 PhD students and 35 Research Assistants/others across a variety of different areas.

The SFI Frontiers for the Future programme comprises two funding streams:

  • Projects – 45 high-risk, high-reward research projects will receive €25 million to facilitate highly innovative and novel approaches to research.
  • Awards – 26 larger scale innovative, collaborative excellent research programmes that have the potential to deliver economic and societal impact will receive €28m in funding.

 

The funding awarded to Trinity College research spans a range of disciplines and areas of investigation. The Awards (over €5million) granted will support research into immune training, inflammation, cellular immunity and the neurosciences. The Projects awarded funding (over €6million)  through the programme will include those investigating virtual reality, computational psychiatry, the mechanisms of disease and therapy to enhance bone regeneration amongst others.

Speaking on the announcement, Professor Andrew Bowie, Associate Dean of Research at Trinity said:

Congratulations to all the awardees announced today. That almost 30% of these Frontiers for the Future investigator-led projects and awards in this highly competitive scheme came to Trinity is a real testament to the quality of the research happening in Trinity, and to the calibre of our scientists.

The SFI Frontiers for Future Awards at Trinity College are:

Michael Rowan (Pharmacy, Therapeutics, Trinity Institute for Neurosciences (TCIN))

Research programme: Protecting Vulnerable Synaptic Networks in Early Alzheimer’s Disease.

Award granted: €964,752

Ed Lavelle (Biochemistry)

Research programme: Tailored design of nanoparticulate adjuvants to enhance vaccine induced cellular immunity.

Award granted: €999,918

Luke O’Neill (Biochemistry)

Research programme: Exploring Itaconate as a Critical Immunometabolite in Inflammation.

Award granted: €985,950

Helen Roche and Frederick Sheedy (Biochemistry)  University College Dublin and Trinity College Dublin

Research programme: Diet, Immune Training and Metabolism

Award granted: €994,587

David McCloskey (Physics)

Research programme: Field effect phase modulation with 2D nanomaterials.        

Award granted: €634,005

Fiona Newell  (Psychology, Trinity Institute for Neurosciences, TCIN)

MultiCategory:  Behavioural and brain correlates of adaptive coding in multisensory object categorisation           

Award granted: €664,309

 

The SFI Frontiers for Future Projects at Trinity College are:

Rachel McDonnell (Computer Science)

Research project: RADICal: on-set virtual Reality for Actors portraying DIgital Characters 

Award granted: €477,737

Claire Gillan    ( Psychology, Trinity Institute for Neurosciences, TCIN)

Research project: Rich, Repeated and Robust: A Smartphone-Based Approach to Computational Psychiatry           

Award granted: €479,712

Gary Moran and Derek Sullivan (both, Dental Science)

Research project: The role in virulence and drug target potential of the Candida albicans telomeric TLO gene family 

Award granted: €477,813

 

Sinéad Corr (Microbiology)

Research project: Exploring miR-21 in the dialogue between the microbiome and immunity to decipher mechanisms of disease

Award granted: €477,450

Stephen Connon (Chemistry)

Research project: Cooperative ionic species: a new direction in asymmetric nucleophilic catalysis

Award granted: €479,879

David Hoey     (Mechanical, Manufacturing and Biomedical Engineering)

Research project: Mechanically Activated Extracellular Vesicles as a Multi-targeted Therapy to Enhance Bone Regeneration

Award granted: €479,566

 

Charles Patterson (Physics)

Research Project: Simulation of Organic Optoelectronic Materials using Many-Body Theory (SOOMAT)

Award granted: €234,871

Eoin Scanlan (Chemistry)

Research Project: Accelerated Microfluidic Thiol-ene Mediated Native Chemical Ligation for Synthesis and Manufacture of Peptide and Protein Therapeutics

Award granted: €479, 456

Paula Colvita (Chemistry)

Research Project: Advancing the green transition via novel electrode materials for valorisation processes

Award granted: €478,364

Juan Diego Rodriquez-Blanco (Geology)

Research Project: SEparating Critical metals ThrOugh mineRal crystallization (SEleCTOR)

Award granted: €467,646

Lewys Jones (Physics)

Research Project: Maximum Information-efficiency Scanning Transmission Electron Microscopy

Award granted: €423,845

Pepijn Luijckx (Zoology)

Research Project: Can we use the metabolic theory of ecology to predict disease outbreaks in a warming world?

Award granted: €369,543

Gareth Brady (Clinical Medicine)

Research Project: Investigating Immunomodulation by a Human-Adapted Poxvirus and its Therapeutic potential (IHAPT)

Award granted: €467,742

Aine Kelly (Physiology and Trinity Institute of Neurosciences, TCIN)

Research project: The brain-muscle loop: using physical activity to target age-related neurodegeneration

Award granted: €478,505

Caroline Brophy (Statistics)

Research Project: STRIVE: achieving Sustainable agri-ecosystems ThRough advances In modelling and Visualising the biodiversity and Ecosystem multifunctionality relationship.

Award granted: €305,517

 

Commenting on the programme, Minister Harris said:

Congratulations to all the researchers who have received funding today as part of the SFI Frontiers for the Future Programme. I am delighted to support this programme which funds individual-led research, with an emphasis on areas of high-risk, high-reward, which will help us build a better future for Ireland through discovery, innovation, and impact.

I am pleased to see the successful outcome of the new gender initiative that sees 45% of the research grants announced today led by female researchers. The funding will support researchers who are already carrying out excellent work in Ireland, as well as those in the early stages of their research careers who hold incredible potential.  It is through investment like this that Ireland will become an innovation leader and provide solutions and opportunities for our society and economy.

 

The SFI Frontiers for the Future programme was run in collaboration with the Geological Survey Ireland (GSI) and the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA). 38 industrial collaborators are engaging in the research programmes.

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