‘Grow Phase’ funding of over €9million has been announced today for 16 research teams under the National Challenge Fund – a €65million competitive programme which aims to deliver solutions for major environmental and societal issues.
Established under the Government’s National Recovery and Resilience Plan (NRRP), funded by the EU’s Recovery and Resilience Facility, the National Challenge Fund has supported 96 teams to identify problems related to Ireland’s Green Transition and Digital Transformation and collaborate directly with those stakeholders most affected by them to create real and tangible solutions.
The teams selected today will have the opportunity for additional funding in the final phase of the programme, where prize funding of between €1-2million will be on offer to the most competitive teams under each Challenge.
Celine Fitzgerald, Interim CEO, Research Ireland, said:
“The National Challenge Fund is a solution-focused approach that encourages teams to work across discipline and sectoral boundaries, enabling collaboration between academic researchers, industry and government stakeholders and end-users, and ensuring they are developing innovative and implementable solutions. I wish all the finalist teams success as they continue to develop their unique research projects.”
1. The Energy Innovation Challenge seeks solutions that will accelerate Ireland’s transition to a clean and secure energy system. The finalists in this challenge are researching solutions in the areas of the circular economy, renewable energy and reducing carbon emissions.
2. The Digital for Resilience Challenge seeks solutions that will enhance Ireland’s capabilities in crisis prediction and response. The teams in this challenge are researching solutions in the areas of digital resilience, resilient supply chain solutions, flood forecasting and integrating data from disparate healthcare sources.
3. The Healthy Environment for All Challenge seeks solutions to ensure clean and healthy air, water and soil for humans, animals, and plants. The teams in the Grow Phase for this challenge are researching solutions in the areas of microbiological water quality monitoring, biodegradable tree-supports, water disinfection technologies, sustainable solutions for disposing firefighting foams and bioaerosol forecasting.
4. The OurTech Challenge seeks solutions to enhance the connections between government, communities, and people. The finalists in this Challenge are researching solutions in the areas of cyber safety for vulnerable populations, supporting the efficient use of existing building stock and combating child grooming.
Each team is being awarded up to €500,000 funding for the next 12 months. They will spend the next year advancing prototyping activities and demonstrating how the solutions they are developing can create tangible value by addressing the specific societal needs identified and refined in the previous phases of the funding programme.
The Energy Innovation Challenge seeks solutions that will accelerate Ireland’s transition to a clean and secure energy system.
Teams (alphabetically by lead researcher):
- Dr Vesna Jaksic, Munster Technological University; co-lead Dr Paul Leahy, University College Cork: EirBLADE – National REposItoRy of Decommissioned Wind Turbine BLADEs.
- Prof. Fabiano Pallonetto, Maynooth University; co-lead Dr Amy Fahy, Maynooth University: RENEW – Renewable Energy through Networking, Education, and building a strong community Will for sustainability.
- Dr James Sweeney, University of Limerick; co-lead Prof. Vikram Pakrashi, University College Dublin: GREEN-GRID – Real-time prediction of GREEN electricity generation potential from renewables for optimised GRID management.
- Prof. Dominic Zerulla, University College Dublin; co-lead Dr Silas O’Toole, University College Dublin: PicoGlaze – Dynamic, sustainable, glazing technology enabling modulation of solar heat flow, significantly reducing carbon emissions from the built environment.
The Digital for Resilience Challenge seeks solutions that will enhance Ireland’s capabilities in crisis prediction & response.
Teams (alphabetically by lead researcher):
- Dr Ruth Levey, University of Galway; co-lead Dr Ruth Tarpey, University of Galway: ambiCART – a disruptive digital technology to track live cells and monitor their viability in real-time as they are shipped ambiently.
- Dr Hazel Murray, Munster Technological University; co-lead Gillian O’Carroll, Munter Technological University: Cyber Resilience – Digital resilience for SMEs.
- Dr Indiana Olbert, University of Galway; co-lead Dr Thomas McDermott, University of Galway: Stop Flood – Novel approaches for forecasting multi-hazard hydrological events.
- Prof. Mark Roantree, Dublin City University; co-lead Prof Patricia Kearney, University College Cork: RECONNECT – Chronic disease: discovery, analysis and predictive modelling.
The Healthy Environment for All Challenge seeks solutions to ensure clean and healthy air, water and soil for humans, animals, and plants.
Teams (alphabetically by lead researcher):
- Dr Ciprian Briciu-Burgina, Dublin City University; co-lead Prof. Fiona Regan, Dublin City University: RESTART – Rapid bactErial Sensing for a healThy wAter enviRonmenT.
- Dr Yuanyuan Chen, Technological University of the Shannon co-lead Prof. Maurice Collins, University of Limerick: Traceless – Developing fully biodegradable tree-supporting products with controlled release of fertilizers and pesticides to avoid microplastic and chemical pollution.
- Prof. Deirdre Fitzgerald-Hughes, RCSI University of Medicine and Health Science; co-lead Prof. Mary Pryce, Dublin City University: NoHoW-AMR – New OneHealth OneWater Antimicrobial Resistance Solutions.
- Prof. Cormac Murphy, University College Dublin; co-lead Prof. James Sullivan, University College Dublin: PFAS Cleanup – A sustainable solution for the disposal of PFAS-containing Aqueous Film Forming Foams (AFFF).
- Dr David O’Connor, Dublin City University; co-lead Dr Jiayao Chen, University College Dublin: BOHEMIAN – Biological and chemical aerosol monitoring and modelling.
The OurTech Challenge seeks solutions to enhance the connections between government, communities, and people.
Teams (alphabetically by lead researcher):
- Dr Philip Crowe, University College Dublin; co-lead Dr Gavin McArdle, University College Dublin: Building Stories – Development of a geospatial model for vacancy to reveal the adaptive capacity of urban areas in Ireland, using proxy datasets, GIS and AI.
- Dr Hazel Murray, Munster Technological University; co-lead Michelle O’ Keefe, Munster Technological University: Cyber Safety – Cyber safety for vulnerable populations.
- Dr Christina Thorpe, Technological University Dublin; co-lead Dr Matt Bowden, Technological University Dublin: GroSafe – A Technology-Enabled Solution for Building Societal Resilience against Grooming.