June University of Galway secures research projects under SFI Frontiers for the Future Programme

University of Galway has secured funding for several projects under Science Foundation Ireland’s Frontiers for the Future Programme.

The awards were unveiled by Minister for Further and Higher Education, Research, Innovation and Science, Simon Harris, TD, as part of grants totalling €42 million to support research across the higher education sector.

Among the projects being supported are methods to assess past climate change impacts in the Arctic and oceanic shifts in Ireland to help resolve our current global climate; advanced therapeutic treatment to alleviate suffering in some patients with blood vessel blockages; and a collaboration with Tyndall National Institute on making advancements in electronic devices. 

Professor Jim Livesey, Vice-President Research and Innovation at University of Galway, said: “Government investment in these research projects at University of Galway are testament to the expertise and excellence of our people and their vision to tackle issues of global importance. We wish all of the successful researchers the best as they work to make lasting impact.”

University of Galway research projects are:

• Dr Gordon Bromley, School of Geography & Archaeology, College of Arts, Social Sciences and Celtic Studies, aims to improve future climate projections by investigating the impact of historic oceanic shifts in Ireland. The project is co-funded by Geological Survey Ireland.
• Dr Audrey Morley, School of Geography & Archaeology, College of Arts, Social Sciences and Celtic Studies, will pioneer a new approach to assess past climate change effects in the Arctic, providing a basis to resolve current climate debates on the stability of our global climate. The project is co-funded by Geological Survey Ireland.
• Dr Derek Morris and Dr Dara Cannon, College of Science and Engineering and College of Medicine, Nursing & Health Sciences aim to research the prediction cognitive dysfunction and psychosocial disability in schizophrenia using genetic, neuroimaging and environmental data.
• Timothy O'Brien, Professor in the College of Medicine, Nursing & Health Sciences, is researching new hybrid advanced therapy medicinal products - using combinations of genes, cells and biomaterials - to treat patients who suffer blood vessel blockage in the legs leading to bypass surgery or amputation.
• Dr Andrea Erxleben, College of Science and Engineering, will research novel platinum-based mitocans for the treatment of resistant cancers.
• Conor O'Byrne, College of Science and Engineering, will research the characterisation of the function and regulation of GadR, a novel transcriptional regulator of acid resistance in Listeria monocytogenes.
• Ger O'Connor, Professor in the College of Science and Engineering, is collaborating with Dr Ray Duffy, Tyndall National Institute, to substantially increase the scalability, functionality, performance and energy efficiency of electronic devices while keeping full compatibility with existing mass production technologies. They will research components which affect almost all day-to-day consumer devices.

This Frontiers for the Future programme was funded in collaboration with the Children’s Health Foundation (CHF) and Geological Survey Ireland (GSI).

Minister Harris said: “These awards, supported under the SFI Frontiers for the Future programme, will enable research ideas to contribute new knowledge, solving problems faced by our society, while also providing a continuum of support from early career to established researchers, thus growing and retaining top talent in Ireland. The SFI Frontiers for the Future programme takes important steps to address gender imbalance and to provide support and opportunity for emerging investigators who are returning to their research after a period of leave.”

Professor Philip Nolan, Director General of Science Foundation Ireland, said: “A key action of SFI’s strategy is to deliver 140 investigator grants every year to support excellent research and to attract top talent. The Frontiers for the Future programme is the primary mechanism to achieve this goal. It is vital that we invest in excellent and innovative research in Ireland. I would like to thank the Children’s Health Foundation and Geological Survey Ireland for collaborating on this programme with SFI, allowing us to fund projects which will have a significant impact in key areas."

Commenting on the announcement Koen Verbruggen, Director, Geological Survey Ireland, said: “Geological Survey Ireland has partnered with SFI for several years, and we are very pleased to again support geoscience researchers through the Frontiers programme. Both SFI-GSI projects funded this year will improve our understanding of the impacts of climate change in the past and what this might mean for our future.”

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