Four ATU research teams win SFI funding

Four ATU research teams win SFI funding to help communities find solutions to societal challenges
Bridge management & infrastructure investment
Reversing social isolation
Detecting disease in fish
Securing crops and soil health with sustainable fungicides

Four ATU research teams have secured funding from Science Foundation Ireland (SFI) to come up with solutions to societal challenges through engagement and collaboration with communities, 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, Senior lecturer in Economics, ATU Galway.

“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. 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.” adds Dr Lydon, Lecturer in Civil Engineering, University of Galway. 

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. “How these spaces will work and what they look like will emerge through a series of conversations where diverse groups of people, facilitated by an interdisciplinary team of specialists, will together co-design and co-create sustainable shared spaces that reflect the needs, wants and interests of the local community and the natural environment,” Drs Quinn and Delimata explain. “This project will seek to gather local knowledge and expertise from local authorities, diverse organisations and communities interested in the environment.”

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. 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.” explains Dr Maloney.

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. Oxide nanostructures which are thin and narrow will be grown on the paper used in these tests in Prof McGlynn’s lab. By increasing the surface to volume ratio of the test line using these structures it is hoped that assay performance can be improved by providing a larger area for the capture of pathogens. A portable thermal reader will also be developed to scan the assay test lines to determine the number of infectious agents present.

“An important part of Challenge-based funding is engagement with stakeholders and potential beneficiaries to ensure we are making informed decisions on the future direction of this project. This type of engagement will ensure that we focus our efforts on the real-world challenges faced when trying to diagnose infectious disease in aquaculture and ensure we can achieve maximum impact.” adds Dr Maloney.

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. “By adding these novel stickers into antifungal formulations, the LeafLock team aims to increase the effectiveness of fungicides and reduce the environmental burden in terms of emissions and contamination of soil with harmful compounds.” explains Dr O’Reilly.

“Over the coming months, we will be engaging with stakeholders with an interest and expertise in the agrifood industry, and people who may be impacted by this problem including farmers, as well as relevant government departments and agencies and others who manage crops and soils in various ways.”

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.”

Director General of Science Foundation Ireland Professor Philip Nolan said: “We know that sustainable living is important for our long-term stability and productivity as a nation. These projects will work to accelerate research towards implementation so that there will be better, less wasteful options for us to use in the future. “It is really important that these solutions are developed with the people who are going to use them, and that they actually respond to their needs. I am delighted that so many researchers responded to the Challenges and that they are committed to working at such a pace to deliver real change in such diverse arenas.”

For further information on the National Challenge Call, see:  Challenges | Science Foundation Ireland (sfi.ie)