Science Foundation Ireland supporting 62 projects in €42m funding round

Research into health outcomes in children born to mothers who use e-cigarettes during pregnancy, the impacts of intestinal infection in premature babies and a simple, low-cost imaging system for identifying different varieties of microplastics are among the 62 projects supported under the latest €42 million round of the Science Foundation Ireland (SFI) Frontiers for the Future programme.

The programme provides opportunities for independent investigators to conduct highly innovative, collaborative research with the potential to deliver impact, while also providing opportunities for high-risk, high-reward research projects.

“It’s great to be able to announce a new set of awards under the programme,” says Dr Ruth Freeman, SFI director of science for society. “It’s a really important part of what we do. It supports researchers at all career stages who are exploring the frontiers of knowledge and solving problems faced by society. They are creating knowledge we don’t even know we need yet. You never know what research is going to be important. Look at the MRNA Covid vaccine: that knowledge was an overnight success after 20 years. The range of projects supported is fantastic, it is a representation of the broad research ecosystem we have here.”

One of the features of the programme is the co-funding partnerships with the Children’s Health Foundation (CHF) and the Geological Survey of Ireland (GSI). “These partnerships are very important,” says Freeman. “They allow us to fund projects that will have significant impact in areas like climate change and children’s health.”

Science Foundation Ireland enters partnerships on funding schemes to back research

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Science Foundation Ireland supporting 62 projects in €42m funding round

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Two calls under the National Challenge Fund to close on May 26th

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Science Foundation Ireland Fellowship programme open to applicants

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CHF is the independent charity that raises funds on behalf of Children’s Health Ireland, the hospital group which currently comprises Temple Street, Crumlin and the Tallaght hospital urgent care centre and which will run the new national children’s hospital when it opens.

“The partnership with SFI will help to achieve better outcomes for children,” says CHF director of fundraising Ruth Guy. “A child’s body is so different to an adult’s; you can’t treat them in the same way. It is not possible to take adult research and apply it to children. Children’s bodies are so much smaller and at different stages of development. We want to develop kinder, gentler and safer treatment for children which is as effective as possible. Research into paediatric care is essential if we are to get the best treatments and outcomes for children. The partnership enables us to leverage our funds to have even greater impact. I would like to thank supporters of Children’s Health Ireland for the difference they are making to children’s health.”

Among the co-funded projects is research by Desmond Cox of Children’s Health Ireland and UCD and Carmen Regan of the Coombe Hospital and RCSI to determine the long-term health outcomes in children born to mothers who use e-cigarettes during pregnancy.

Patrick Walsh of Trinity College Dublin and Séamus Hussey of Children’s Health Ireland will investigate how inflammatory bowel disease develops during its earliest phase when treatments will likely be the most beneficial for the patient.

The projects will take on 87 PhDs, 37 research assistants and 68 postdocs

Another project being undertaken by Eleanor Molloy of TCD aims to tackle the significant impacts of intestinal infection in premature babies by developing new tests to help predict their responses to treatment.

Melinda Halasz of UCD and Cormac Owens of Children’s Health Ireland will examine the development of neuroblastoma in children, one of the deadliest childhood cancers, with the aim of developing more effective approaches to treat children with an aggressive form of this cancer.

Freeman points to the significance of the e-cigarette research. “This new technology is not fully understood and science needs to keep up with it,” she says. “It is important to have independent, publicly funded scientific research to give the public the information they need in relation to their use. When we look at how science impacts all aspects of our lives, it is very important to have independent unbiased and objective knowledge on which to base decisions.”

Projects funded in partnership with GSI include research aimed at improving future climate projections by investigating the impact of historic oceanic shifts in Ireland and a new approach to assess past climate change effects in the Arctic, providing a basis to resolve current climate debates on the stability of the global climate.

The programme will have other impacts beyond these specific research areas. “We support better gender balance in research funding by tipping the playing field a bit to level it,” says Freeman. “We also recognise early-stage researchers by giving their ideas a little more weight. Another really important element is the number of researchers it will train. The projects will take on 87 PhDs, 37 research assistants and 68 postdocs and the recruitment process is starting.”