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November University of Galway welcomes new cohort of Hardiman PhD scholars

University of Galway welcomes new cohort of Hardiman PhD scholars

Pictured are 13 of the 2023 Hardiman PhD Scholarship recipients with (centre) Professor Dónal Leech, Dean of Graduate Studies at University of Galway. Credit – Mike Shaughnessy.

Nov 20 2023 Posted: 14:21 GMT

University of Galway has welcomed the 2023 Hardiman PhD Scholarship recipients to campus.

The 21 successful scholars come from 12 different countries and are embarking on doctoral studies after being selected from a highly competitive pool of applicants from around the world.

The Hardiman PhD Scholarships are fully funded for four years, with a stipend of €19,000 per annum, plus fee waiver. The scheme offers opportunities for suitably qualified students to pursue a structured PhD at the University on topics aligned to five key areas of research:

- Enhancing policy and society

- Enriching creativity and culture

- Improving health and wellbeing

- Realising potential through data and enabling technologies

- Sustaining our planet and people

Since the scheme was introduced in 2011, University of Galway has awarded scholarships to almost 300 individuals.

Professor Dónal Leech, Dean of Graduate Studies at University of Galway, said: “Our 2023 Hardiman Research scholar recipients represent the diversity, depth and distinctiveness of Galway research, with each scholar recruited for their excellence and supported over four years to develop their research skills and to generate new knowledge for the betterment of our society.”

Applications for the for 2024 Hardiman PhD Scholarships will open on Friday December 1, 2023, and will remain open until Friday February 9, 2024 at 5pm. Further information on the Hardiman PhD Scholarships is available at www.universityofgalway.ie/hardiman-scholarships.

The 2023 Hardiman PhD scholars include:

Scholar	Country of origin	College and subject area of study
Dayle Leonard	Ireland	College of Science and Engineering – Investigating scorpion venoms as a source of novel antimicrobial and antivirulent compounds.
Mariia-Valeriia Morris	Israel	College of Arts, Social Sciences, and Celtic Studies – Troubles Studies, representations of political violence in 20th century Ireland in film and comics.
Durre Zehra Syeda	Pakistan	College of Science and Engineering – Cybersecurity and Artificial Intelligence.
Mohammad Khaboushani	Afghanistan	College of Science and Engineering – Fatigue and fracture analysis of Submarine Power Cables.
Christine Ayu	Indonesia	College of Medicine, Nursing and Health Sciences – Researching innovative treatments, particularly stem cell therapy, for degenerative diseases, such as Diabetes Mellitus.
Aoife O’Connell	Ireland	College of Medicine, Nursing and Health Sciences – Pharmacology & Therapeutics, specifically using electrophysiology to improve our understanding of Alzheimer's disease and evaluate a novel therapeutic strategy.
Amanie Issa	Palestine	College of Business, Public Policy and Law – Human Rights: Exploring the role of ‘state’ and law at perpetuating Gender-Based violence against women and girls with disabilities.
Simon Ngorok	Uganda	College of Business, Public Policy and Law – Climate Change Impacts, and Adaptation - modelling loss and damage from flood events in sub-Saharan Africa.
Duduzile Unathi Ndlovu	South Africa	College of Arts, Social Sciences, and Celtic Studies – Sociology of higher education, towards critically (re)considering fallist student movements and their calls to decolonise Higher Education in South Africa.
Luke McDermott	Ireland	College of Arts, Social Sciences, and Celtic Studies – Researching the ways that analogy, metaphor and conceptual comparison manifested in Neo-Assyrian writing by applying Cognitive Linguistic and Intertextual methodologies.
Ronan O'Hanlon	Ireland-UK	College of Arts, Social Sciences, and Celtic Studies – An intellectual history of George Berkeley, exploring the origins and influence of his work.
Kristal Jericho	Australia	College of Business, Public Policy and Law – The impact of gendered norms and hegemonic masculinity on the mental health and wellbeing of commercial aviation pilots.
Rebecca Lane	Ireland	College of Medicine, Nursing and Health Sciences – An Investigation of the Endocannabinoid System and the Gut Microbiome in Patients with Abdominal Visceral Pain and Co-Morbid Negative Affect.
Fatemeh Fotouhi Chahooki	Iran	College of Medicine, Nursing and Health Sciences – Research into drug-like compounds inhibiting RIPK1-FADD interaction in FADDosome complex, mitigating chemotherapy agent side effects.
Dave Cormican	Ireland	College of Science and Engineering – Mathematics with a focus on abstract algebra of zeta functions over rings.
Pouya Motienoparvar	Iran	College of Science and Engineering – Evolutionary Biology, with focus on Agricultural Biotechnology to study the evolutionary paths by which newly evolved genes facilitate abiotic stress adaptation in plants.
Fatemeh Adelisardou	Iran	College of Science and Engineering – Soil microbial community and carbon cycling in the Anthropocene.
Darcy Ireland	USA	College of Arts, Social Sciences, and Celtic Studies – Analysis of a late eighth-century Latin exegetical text, the Irish Reference Bible.
Louisa Klatt	Germany	College of Business, Public Policy and Law – An interdisciplinary study combining constitutional law, creative futures, and social science methodology.
Abdolvahed Noori	Afghanistan	College of Science and Engineering – Revealing quorum sensing-based microbial communication in anaerobic digestion systems for enhancing biogas production.
Fatemeh Karamifard	Iran	College of Science and Engineering – Development of computational models for bioresorbable metal matrix composites in medical implants.