Minister for Further and Higher Education, Research, Innovation and Science, Simon Harris, TD, has today announced 71 grants valued at €53 million to support frontiers research across 12 Higher Education Institutions through Science Foundation Ireland.
Neuroscience Ireland is pleased to note that 12 of the grants, valued at over 7 million Euro, fund projects relating to the function and health of the nervous system. Brian research in Ireland has been chronically underfunded, so today’s announcement is very much welcomed. In Ireland alone, over 800,000 people live with neurological conditions such as stroke, epilepsy, Parkinson’s Disease, Alzheimers Disease and multiple sclerosis and the associated costs are estimated to be €3 billion per annum. This new investment is a recognition of the innovation, creativity and excellence of Irish neuroscientists and the potential of these projects to generate breakthroughs in our understanding of the function and dysfunction of the nervous system that will be of benefit to Ireland and the world.
While 45% of the overall funding was awarded to female researchers, 75% of the neuroscience-focussed projects are led by female PIs – a testament to the excellence of Ireland’s female neuroscience researchers.
We congratulate all awardees and look forward to seeing data presented at future Neuroscience Ireland meetings.
The neuroscience-themed projects are listed below and the full list of awardees is available here
| Michael Rowan | Trinity College Dublin | Protecting Vulnerable Synaptic Networks in Early Alzheimer’s Disease |
| Olive Lennon | University College Dublin | The 3Rs: Responsive, Rehabilitative Robotics in Motor Relearning of Functional Standing and Walking after Stroke |
| Liam Marnane and Geraldine Boylan | University College Cork | Model based decision support for newborn brain protection |
| Fiona Newell | Trinity College Dublin | MultiCategory: Behavioural and brain correlates of adaptive coding in multisensory object categorisation |
| Yvonne Nolan | University College Cork | Mechanisms underpinning the interplay between chronic neuroinflammation and exercise on cognitive function during middle age |
| Claire Gillan | Trinity College Dublin | Rich, Repeated and Robust: A Smartphone-Based Approach to Computational Psychiatry |
| Eilís Dowd | National University of Ireland, Galway | Harnessing the potential of biomaterials for improving stem cell-derived brain repair for Parkinson’s disease |
| Dearbhaile Dooley | University College Dublin | Targeted control of microglia polarisation after spinal cord injury |
| Gerard O’Keeffe | University College Cork | Defining the potential of HDAC5 and HDAC9 as novel therapeutic targets for Parkinson’s disease. |
| Gerhard Schlosser | National University of Ireland, Galway | Cofactor-dependent functions of Eya1 in sensory neurogenesis |
| Áine Kelly | Trinity College Dublin | The brain-muscle loop: using physical activity to target age-related neurodegeneration |
| Dympna O’Sullivan and Julie Doyle | Technological University Dublin and Dundalk Institute of Technology | Enabling Self-Care and Shared Decision Making for People Living with Dementia |