Maynooth University researchers receive €5m under SFI Frontiers for the Future programme

Maynooth University researchers are set to receive over €5 million in funding from Science Foundation Ireland (SFI) under the Frontiers for the Future Programme, to tackle a range of topics such as renewable energy, climate change, food security, astronomy, immunology and cognitive science.

The Frontiers for the Future Awards strand has allocated funding of over €1 million to Prof John Ringwood, Department of Electronic Engineering, while a further seven MU projects will receive approximately €4 million across a range of disciplines.

Prof John Ringwood’s research focuses on mitigating the cost of wave energy relative to other renewable, and non-renewable, energy. The research proposes a combination of technological improvements to improve the economic performance of wave energy systems and produce the step change needed to boost the commercial development of wave power.

Research by Dr John Devaney, Department of Biology, will focus on the effect of tree diversity in planted forests in a changing climate. In the first experiment of its kind, this research will compare how tree monocultures and mixtures grow under simulated climates of the future.

The SFI Frontiers for the Future programme supports innovative and novel approaches to research, with funding available for both high-risk, high-reward research and larger scale research programmes with the potential to deliver economic and societal impact.

Minister for Further and Higher Education, Research, Innovation and Science, Simon Harris, TD, 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.”

The Maynooth University ‘Awards’ recipients are:

• Prof John Ringwood, Department of Electronic Engineering, received €1,074,213 for his research on ‘Economic wave energy through technical innovation (SeaChange)’

The Maynooth University ‘Projects’ recipients are:

• Dr Colm Bracken, Department of Experimental Physics, received €613,466 for his research on ‘Development of Cryogenic Microwave Kinetic Inductance Detectors toward Next-Generation Science Instruments for Astronomy and Beyond’
• Dr Dermot Lynott, Department of Psychology and Dr Diarmuid O’Donoghue, Department of Computer Science and Hamilton Institute , received €503,328 for their research on ‘Modelling implicit bias: linking language, the media, and biased attitudes’
• Dr Erivelton Nepomuceno , Department of Electronic Engineering and Hamilton Institute, received €587,975 for his research on ‘Simultaneous stabilization and wave energy harvesting for a floating offshore wind/wave platform’
• Dr John Devaney , Department of Biology, received €516,192 for his research on ‘Future Forests: Understanding the effect of tree diversity in planted forests under a rapidly changing climate’
• Dr Lisa Orme , Department of  Geography and ICARUS, received €570,570 for her research on ‘Investigating the past climate influence on the carbon accumulation rates of Irish blanket bogs (PCARB)’
• Dr Marion Butler , Department of Biology and Human Health Institute, received €618,875 for her research on ‘Investigating Sex differences in innate immune signalling pathways of relevance to COVID-19 and SLE’
• Dr Ozgur Bayram Department of Biology, received €615,266 for his research on ‘Molecular analysis of chromatin-regulated gene expression in mycotoxigenic fungi for improved agricultural outputs and food security’

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