Some 22 scientific researchers based in higher education institutions throughout the country have been awarded State funding of €12.3 million to carry out their work in Ireland.
The money, provided under the Starting Investigator Research Grant programme and administered through Science Foundation Ireland (SFI), aims to encourage early-career scientific researchers to undergo pioneering work in the country.
The award also encompasses funding for a postgraduate student to provide an additional layer of support for the research.
It was awarded to researchers working in nine higher level educational institutions including: Cork Institute of Technology (1 award); Dublin Institute for Advanced Studies (1 award); NUI Galway (3 awards); Trinity College Dublin (5 awards); Tyndall National Institute, Cork (5 awards); NUI Maynooth (1 award); National Institute for Bioprocessing Research and Training (1 award); University College Dublin (4 awards), University College Cork (1 award).
Areas awarded the grant include geothermal energy, marine ecology, thermoelectrics, tissue engineering, cancer, cystic fibrosis, immunology, neuroscience and schizophrenia.
Minister for Research and Innovation Séan Sherlock said the programme “provides an opportunity for researchers to propel themselves to the next level and realise their potential in their respective fields”.
Mr Sherlock said the awards marks the first co-funding arrangement with the international Marie Curie COFUND scheme and shows the “increasingly collaborative and international nature” of research in Ireland today.
Of the 22 recipients, 12 were Irish - seven of whom applied while abroad - while the five of the 10 non-Irish recipients also applied from outside Ireland.
“A dedicated early intervention scheme such as this helps to pave the way for growing Irish-based, world-class research groups and progression towards commercialisation of ideas at a later stage in the researchers’ careers,” the minister added.