The government has approved €28.5m in funding for 53 academic research projects from emerging academics in areas including cancer, nutrition, politics, history, literature, energy and technology.

The funding will be administered through Science Foundation Ireland (SFI) and the Irish Research Council's (IRC) Pathway programme.

Of the 53 projects supported in the first round of the partnership, 36 are in science, technology, engineering and maths (STEM) and 17 are in arts, humanities and social sciences (AHSS).

The awards will enable postdoctoral researchers to conduct independent research for a four–year period and will provide funding for a postgraduate student who will be primarily supervised by the awardee.

Projects include:

In Association with

• Identifying highly nutritious versions of Irish oats that will be resilient in the face of climate change.
• Gendered violence in the Irish South Asian community.
• External Shocks and Fiscal Sustainability.
• The Development of Writing in Early Ireland.
• Recovering documentary sources of the circumpolar north in the long nineteenth century.
• The impact of plastics on health.
• Understanding the evolution of cosmic dust and star formation using the James Webb Space Telescope.
• Novel sensors for measuring agricultural emissions.
• Advanced batteries for improved energy storage performance.

Announcing the investment, Minister for Further and Higher Education, Research, Innovation and Science Simon Harris said it is "important that we retain and support our emerging talent across all areas of research, from astronomy, cancer, economics, energy, to health and nutrition.

“Crucially, this fund focuses on the representation of female researchers in the higher education system. We want to continue to increase the number of females participating in research and funds like this are crucial to helping us achieving this.”

Dr Ruth Freeman, director of Science for Society at SFI, said the funding would enable awardees to "gain the essential skills and experience to develop their track record and become independent research leaders.

Dr Louise Callinan, interim director of the IRC, said the organisation is "committed to cultivating agile independent researchers and funding excellent research across all disciplines.

"Through this impactful partnership with Science Foundation Ireland, emerging research talent in both AHSS and STEM will be supported toward becoming established independent researchers and future research leaders.”

Of the STEM projects awarded, 21 are led by women and 15 by men, while the AHSS projects awarded are split between nine men and eight women.

The 53 projects will be funded through 12 research bodies: DCU (four); Dublin Institute for Advanced Studies (five); Marine Institute (one); Maynooth University (5); Munster Technology University (two); National University of Ireland, Galway (three); RCSI, University of Medicine and Health Sciences (one); Teagasc (one); Trinity College Dublin (8); UCC (six); UCD (nine) and UL (eight).

Total funding of €9m, or an average of €530,000, has been allotted to 17 AHSS projects, with a further €19.5m, or an average of €543,000, going to 36 STEM projects.

Photo: Simon Harris. (Pic: Sasko Lazarov / RollingNews.ie)