Six NUI Galway academics have been awarded almost €3 million in grants by the Irish Research Council to conduct “frontier research” projects.
The funding will go to projects in the fields of Biomedical Science and Engineering, as well as the Arts, Humanities, and Social Sciences.
The funding, which comes from the Research Council’s Laureate Awards, was announced this week by Minister for Education and Skills Richard Bruton.
“Frontier basic research is very much at the cutting edge of new knowledge. It is research that is daring, that pushes boundaries, and the moves beyond the frontiers of our current understanding.”
Vice-President for Research at NUIG Professor Lokesh Joshi said that conducting groundbreaking basic research is integral to scientific innovation.
“There is incredible talent in this country, and supporting the unknown potential of basic research is to underpinning the research and innovation prowess of Ireland.
“I would like to congratulate the six exceptional individuals at NUI Galway who are part of this announcement today.”
Recipients of the grant money are Dr. Katarzyna Whysall, who is researching new RNA based therapies to treat muscle wasting.
While Dr. Ted Vaughan is researching bone fragility caused by Type-2 diabetes.
Professor Laoise McNamara is modelling the conditions that cause bone metastases to help investigate potential treatments.
And Dr. Álvaro Llorente-Berzal will study the implication of the endocannabinoid system in sex differences in chronic neuropathic pain.
In the Arts, Dr. Rióna Ní Fhrighil is researching Human Rights and Modern Irish Poetry.
While Dr. Jacopo Bisagni is studying the exchange of ideas between Ireland, Brittany, and Francia from 750-1000 AD in a number of areas such as astronomy, cosmology, and biblical studies.
A further €12 million in advanced grants in the Laureate programme will soon be made available by the Department of Education, with individual grants worth up to €1 million over four years.
The Irish Research Council will begin accepting applications for these grants in the coming weeks
