More than €28 million announced in funding for new research projects

Some €28.5 million has been announced in new research funding to 53 different projects in universities and other organisations.

The projects are funded through a new partnership between Science Foundation Ireland and the Irish Research Council, and is targeted to support academics at early stages of their careers.

Twenty-one of the 36 research projects in the areas of science, technology, engineering, and mathematics, will be led by female academics. The funding will allow postdoctoral researchers to carry out their work over a four-year period.

Research backed by the funding ranges from projects examining if prosthetic limbs can be developed that feel sensation, to a study of religious persecution in Ukraine during the time of the Soviet Union.

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Other research to receive funding includes a study into domestic violence among the south Asian migrant community in Ireland, and research by semi-State body Teagasc looking to identify the healthiest variety of Irish-grown oats.

Academics in University College Dublin had the most research projects funded at nine out of the 53, followed by eight in Trinity College Dublin and University of Limerick.

Commenting on the funding announcement, Minister for Further and Higher Education Simon Harris said the scheme had focused on improving 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,” he said.