Trinity Researchers Win Irish Research Council’s New Horizons Scheme Funding

Posted on: 27 November 2015

Three Trinity researchers recently received awards under Irish Research Council's New Horizons scheme. Overall Trinity received 18% of more than €2m competitive funding for 17 research projects which were announced by Damien English, TD, Minister for Skills, Research & Innovation. 

Associate Professor of Economics, Eleanor Denny’s research will explore developments in behavioural economics and information systems in her interdisciplinary project on efficient energy. Her data analytical research will ascertain whether providing customers with information on how much electrical appliances cost to run will encourage them to buy more energy efficient products.

Ussher Assistant Professor in Irish Writing, Tom Walker's research, ‘Yeats and the Writing of Art’ examines the work of W.B. Yeats through the prism of nineteenth and twentieth-century art writing – encompassing the many textual forms through which art spectatorship and writing were combined during the period, ranging from aesthetic philosophy to art history to exhibition reviews to ekphrastic poems. 

Assistant Professor in International Peace Studies and Intercultural Theology and Interreligious Studies, Carlo Aldrovandi’s research, ‘Transforming the Conflict over the Holy Land: An Engagement with Israeli Religious Zionism and its Sacred Values' looks at the interface of international relations, religion, human rights and peace studies. 

Speaking about the scheme, Minister English said that the funding will ‘provide opportunities for the Irish research community to maintain momentum in what is an incredibly competitive European research funding environment. This scheme taps into the incredible breadth and diversity of expertise in our institutions, and the funding will enable a set of exceptional researchers to carry forward their research and also help to establish a strong track record in interdisciplinary research.’

“This scheme will nurture outstanding talent and help to promote the development of a research community that is internationally competitive into the future,” stated Professor Jane Ohlmeyer, Chair of the Irish Research Council. "The potential for the awardees to go on and win further funding for Ireland through Horizon2020 is strong. The scale of European research funding is such that a single award from the European Research Council in the future for one of the successful awardees could outweigh the aggregate cost of all awards being announced today under New Horizons 2015. Given our ambitious target for Horizon2020, these modest investments in future research leaders make a lot of sense on many different levels."

The Irish Research Council's New Horizons scheme supports top-class researchers in our higher education system to develop novel and excellent ideas and to build towards seeking further investment in those ideas from the EU’s Research and Innovation framework, Horizon2020. The scheme represents one of a number of measures implemented by the Council that contribute towards enabling Ireland to be successful within the European research sphere, and ultimately to reach our national target of winning €1.25billion of Horizon 2020 funding.