Funding worth €4 million has been awarded to 21 new policy-focused research projects has been announced by the Department of Agriculture, Food and the Marine (DAFM). These awards follow on from the DAFM 2024 Policy and Strategic Studies Research Call.
The successful projects cover a broad spectrum of research topics such as: bovine tuberculosis, food waste, a national soil strategy and monitoring programme, and attitudes and behaviours towards climate change mitigation.
This announcement was made by Minister of State, Martin Heydon, T.D. who oversaw the establishment a new research funding instrument in 2022 aimed at supporting short-term projects that directly address policy, strategy or regulatory issues in the agri-food, forest and bioeconomy sectors. These projects can be up to 12 or 24 months in duration, with funding of up to €100,000 or €250,000, respectively.
The successful projects (including coordinators and research institutes) awarded under the 2024 Policy and Strategic Studies Call are:
• Orla Keane (Teagasc), Multi-species swards for herd health
• Mohammad Mohammadrezaei (Teagasc), Explaining Climate Change Mitigation Uptake Behaviour Change Dynamics: Farmers’ Attitudes, Motivations, and Barriers (EMIT-CHANGE)
• Amanda Sosa (University College Dublin), More than Wood: Assessment of Non-Wood Products and Services
• Colin Kelleher (National Botanic Gardens), Seed sourcing strategies for native broadleaf forestry species
• Jennifer Attard (Munster Technological University), Waste reduction initiatives for sustainable primary food production
• Helena McMahon (Munster Technological University), Circular Bioeconomy Education Centre
• Aine Ni Dhubhain (University College Dublin), Closer-to-Nature Forest Management in Ireland
• Simone Ciuti (University College Dublin), Moving Badgers – Studying badger movement and interaction rate with both co-specifics and cattle to unravel their role in the spread of bovine tuberculosis across Irish ecosystems.
• Thia Hennessy (University College Cork), Investigating the Feasibility of Oilseed Processing in Ireland (OILPRO)
• Karen Daly (Teagasc), A National Soil Strategy and Monitoring Programme for Ireland
• Nicola Fletcher (University College Dublin), Investigation of the risk of novel sources of hepatitis E virus to humans in Ireland: A One Health approach
• Niamh Field (Teagasc), Association between herd bovine tuberculosis breakdown and herd nutritional, metabolic and immune status
• Kevin Kilcline (Teagasc), Evaluating National And EU Comprehensive Targets in Organics
• Áine Regan (Teagasc), Optimising Biosecurity Risk Communication Pathways for Bovine Tuberculosis
• Fiona Thorne (Teagasc), Feasibility Assessment for ORganic Feed Milling (FARM)
• Guerrino Macori (University College Dublin), Advanced Serotyping for Porcine Pathogens Using Nanopore Sequencing Technology
• Locksley Messam (University College Dublin), Bitten by A Dog in the Republic of Ireland: A HUMan and ANimal Problem
• JJ Leahy (University of Limerick), Policy options for facilitating the adoption of biobased fertilisers from digestate in an Irish context
• Conor McAloon (University College Dublin), Q-fever in Ireland – characterising zoonotic risk
• Michael Gaffney (Teagasc), Steps towards developing a framework to establish the economic and structural impact of potential invasive plant pest introductions in Irish Agriculture
• Patrick McGetrick (University of Galway), CARBon footprint assessment linking FORest products across the full VALue chain
In total, nine research institutes benefitted from these awards with 36 contract positions being created for 19 postdoctoral positions and 17 other research positions.
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