April Ten Projects from NUI Galway Awarded Funding from the Irish Research Council

Projects to connect researchers with community and voluntary organisations to share knowledge and develop new insights to enhance wellbeing and delivery of services

Ten projects from NUI Galway have received funding of over €113,000 from the Irish Research Council to connect researchers with community and voluntary organisations. The impact of the Covid-19 pandemic on the wellbeing of different groups in society and on the delivery of services is a significant theme within the research projects being announced.

The ten projects from NUI Galway will reach out across communities to look at diverse issues that include those affecting the LGTBQI+ community, senior citizens, understanding the nature of rural crime, diversity in theatre for young people, humanitarian practice, remote management of heart failure, judicial education and conduct, access to cardiac care online, therapeutic care needs for mild dementia and the prevention and treatment of post-partum haemmorage.

The ten funded projects will be led by:

⦁ Dr Sinéad Hynes, Occupational Therapy, who will work with The Alzheimer Society of Ireland to develop recommendations and identify what the future care needs of older LGTBQI+ people living with dementia in Ireland are.
⦁ Dr Haroon Zafar, School of Medicine and BioInnovate Ireland, who will be part of a research collaboration with Croí, the Heart and Stroke Charity on the remote management of heart failure during Covid-19 through ‘telehealth’.
⦁ Dr Charlotte McIvor, Drama and Theatre Performance, who will partner with Baboró International Arts Festival for Children on the first national project to look at interculturalism, diversity and inclusion in theatre for the young audiences sector.
⦁ Dr Michael Lang, J.E. Cairnes School of Business and Economics, whose research will contribute towards a better understanding of the nature of rural crime – perceived, experienced, and recorded – and will analyse how it varies across different regions of Ireland.
⦁ Dr Orla Dolan, Occupational Therapy, whose research will look at an evidence base for meeting therapeutic care needs using Virtual Cognitive Stimulation Therapy with individuals living with mild to moderate dementia residing in the community in Ireland.
⦁ Dr Barry McDermott, Engineering and Informatics, who will work in partnership with Busitema University on a novel low-cost, robust device for the prevention and treatment of post-partum haemorrhage in low resource settings.
⦁ Dr Oonagh Meade, School of Psychology, who will partner with Croí Heart and Stroke Charity who have developed “MySláinte”, a new cardiac rehabilitation programme delivered online to ensure equal access to cardiac rehabilitation in Ireland.
⦁ Dr Rónán Kennedy, School of Law, who will partner with the Trust for Civil Liberties, Human Rights and Fundamental Freedoms and with Dr Laura Cahillane of the University of Limerick to examine whether the establishment of the Judicial Council will bring the Irish approaches to judicial conduct and ethics and judicial education and training up to international best practice.
⦁ Dr Miriam Haughton, Drama and Theatre Performance, who will work with Age & Oppportunity on the documentary 'Mad, Bad and Dangerous: 'Difficult' Irish Women Abroad'.
⦁ Dr Kevin O'Sullivan, Department of History, who will be part of a research collaboration with Dóchas - the Irish Association of Non Governmental Development Organisations focusing on the historical research into humanitarian practice.

Professor Jim Livesey, Vice President of Research and Innovation at NUI Galway, said: “Collaborative partnerships with community and voluntary organisations in civic society are integral to research at NUI Galway. These community organisations bring new energy and innovation to our research, and as partners we work together to find solutions that enhance their services. Openness is one of our core strategic values. Open research brings challenges posed by society to our community, and these diverse and inclusive projects will undoubtedly improve the standards of care and service provided to the wider world. I thank the Irish Research Council and the Government for their support of these projects and look forward to the outcomes from these valuable partnerships.”

The Minister for Further and Higher Education, Research, Innovation and Science, Simon Harris TD welcomed the funding by the Irish Research Council this week for 76 New Foundations projects that will bring researchers and community/voluntary organisations together to share knowledge and develop new insights to help create a better society for all.

Minister Harris said: “These research collaborations are helping with some very important community and voluntary sector projects. I welcome that the highest ever number of funding awards are being made today by the Irish Research Council to support these research collaborations with the community and voluntary sector."

Along with the strand engaging civic society, the New Foundations scheme also includes strands supported by government departments and agencies. In each of the past three years, a dedicated strand of the call provides opportunities for researchers to work on important areas of policy, including global development, crime, creativity and children.

Commenting on the funding partnership with the Department of Foreign Affairs, Director of the Irish Research Council, Peter Brown said: “The ongoing partnership between the Irish Research Council and the Department of Foreign Affairs under this programme is very welcome and continues to build a pipeline of research collaborations for future projects that support enhanced cooperation between the global north and global south, focusing on innovative responses to global challenges within the framework of the 2030 agenda for the Sustainable Development Goals."

Since 2015, over 200 community, voluntary and charity organisations have engaged across various Irish Research Council programmes, 278 projects have been funded with an associated investment in excess of €6.5 million.

The New Foundations scheme will run again this year and further information is available here.

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