Four ATU research teams have secured funding from Science Foundation Ireland (SFI) for projects related to infrastructure, agriculture, social issues, and more.
The research teams aim to come up with solutions to societal challenges through engagement and collaboration with communities, with funding under the National Challenge Fund announced recently by Higher Education Minister Simon Harris.
The Challenge sees 25 research teams lead projects aimed at helping Ireland prepare for its green transition and digital transformation.
The National Challenge Fund is a €65 million programme established under the National Recovery and Resilience Plan and funded by the European Union’s Recovery and Resilience Facility.
The four ATU teams are Business lecturer Dr Amaya Vega (ATU Galway) and co-lead Civil Engineering lecturer Dr Myra Lydon, (University of Galway); Physics lecturer Dr Niall Maloney (ATU Galway) and Professor Enda McGlynn (DCU); Engineering lecturer Dr Ruth Quinn (ATU Sligo) and Social Science lecturer Dr Natalie Delimata (ATU Sligo); Science lecturer Dr Shane O’Reilly (ATU Sligo) and Dr Ruairí Brannigan (DCU).
Bridge management & infrastructure investment
Dr Amaya Vega’s and Dr Myra Lydon’s project “EMBRACE-Mobility” takes a community-centric approach to bridge management and infrastructure investment prioritisation to ensure the mobility needs of rural communities are taken into consideration.
They will engage with the Western Development Commission (WDC), Galway County Council and other stakeholders.
“EMBRACE-Mobility will bring together transport researchers and rural communities in County Galway to understand the extent of the wider effects associated with bridge failure and to address the issue of climate adaptation and the sustainability of many rural communities,” explains Dr Vega.
“This novel approach to consider the value of bridge investments in terms of safeguarding mobility will provide vital evidence in securing future funding to maintain aging bridges connecting rural communities,” adds Dr Lydon.
“Bridges carry many other critical infrastructure services, including power, telecommunications and water, their importance is often overlooked. EMBRACE will for the first time enable us to understand the cascading impact of bridge loss across the region.”
Reversing social isolation
Dr Ruth Quinn’s and Dr Natalie Delimata’s interdisciplinary project will explore how to address the dual issues of social isolation and environmental decline.
It aims to support people’s mental and environmental health by empowering communities to create spaces that enable social connection through interaction with nature
Detecting disease in fish
The NanoSA team lead by Dr Niall Maloney (ATU) and co-lead Professor Enda McGlynn (DCU) are working with team Societal Impact Champion Catherine McManus (Mowi Ireland) to further improve the sustainability of the Irish Aquaculture Industry by developing technology for the rapid diagnosis of pathogenic infections at farm sites.
“Current methods for the diagnosis of pathogens in aquaculture are time consuming and are carried out in laboratories that are sometimes far from farm sites,” explains Dr Maloney.
By developing technology for use directly at the farm site we can reduce sample to answer times and ensure more timely and appropriate disease management practices can be implemented.”
The team will develop a test that works in a similar fashion to the COVID-19 tests that were used in homes and workplaces throughout the pandemic but with some modifications.
Securing crops and soil health with sustainable fungicides
ATU Sligo’s Dr Shane O’Reilly and DCU’s Ruairí Brannigan’s project, named LeafLock, will develop bio-based polymeric ‘stickers’ from unwanted biological by-products like woody biomass.
Fungal diseases are a persistent threat for global food supply, yet the production of fungicides relies on the petrochemical industry which has its own problems in terms of climate and carbon emissions.
Degradation products from current fungicide formulations may also be harmful and threaten soil health.
These polymeric stickers aim to improve effectiveness of fungicides and reduce the environmental burden.
Announcing the finalists, Higher Education Minister Simon Harris said: “The researchers are committing to solving long-term problems, but they need to develop their ideas quickly and validate their solutions to keep unlocking funding each year.”
“This kind of solutions-driven research will help us to tackle the big societal changes we face as we become a green and digital country.”
