Posted on: 28 June 2017
Professor of Geography, Anna Davies, and Professor of History, Poul Holm, have won special awards for outstanding achievement in European research at Ireland’s Champions of EU Research event, while Professor of Engineering and the Arts, and Director of CONNECT at Trinity, Linda Doyle, has won an award for her leadership in the EDGE training and development programme.
The event recognises the immense contribution of the award winners and of all project leaders from Ireland to the country’s national success in the €75 billion Horizon 2020 EU Framework Programme for research and innovation. Enterprise Ireland are hosting the event on behalf of Ireland’s National Support Network for Horizon 2020.
Trinity and its researchers continue to excel in attracting EU funds to support innovative research. Since the inception of Horizon 2020, Trinity’s researchers have secured over €65 million in project funding.
Associate Dean of Research (Infrastructure), Professor Peter Gallagher, said: “Horizon 2020 funding is of significant strategic importance to the University, both to fund existing research and to attract in the best international talent.” “In terms of our success, Trinity is ranked 1st in Ireland for success in H2020 funding. Trinity is also ranked 25th in Europe across all higher education institutions; this is an exceptional performance for an institution of our faculty size.”
Associate Dean of Research (Infrastructure), Professor Peter Gallagher, said: “Horizon 2020 funding is of significant strategic importance to the University, both to fund existing research and to attract in the best international talent.”
“In terms of our success, Trinity is ranked 1st in Ireland for success in H2020 funding. Trinity is also ranked 25th in Europe across all higher education institutions; this is an exceptional performance for an institution of our faculty size.”
Minister of State for Training, Skills, Innovation, Research and Development, John Halligan, and CEO of Enterprise Ireland, Julie Sinnamon, presented the special awards to the Trinity recipients.
Professor Anna Davies said: “I am delighted to receive this award for my ERC research project SHARECITY, which is assessing innovative responses to unsustainable urban food systems around the globe. European funding has enabled me and my team to really push the boundaries of existing knowledge and conduct blue skies research of scale and significance. I hope this national recognition of European H2020 funding encourages others to apply for similar grants in the future.”
Speaking about his award, Professor Holm said: “I am delighted and proud to receive the award. Teaching and research constantly encourage us to probe deeper and search wider. I want to thank all the students and colleagues who keep me on my toes.”
Professor Linda Doyle said “The EDGE success has been a team effort. Three Science Foundation Ireland Research Centres – CONNECT, AMBER and ADAPT – have worked together to prepare this new programme which will help to make Ireland a global hub for ICT research. The successful candidates will strengthen our existing research groups and provide new collaboration opportunities with research institutes internationally. By offering industry secondment opportunities, EDGE will also further strengthen the relationship between industry and Irish research.” “I want to acknowledge the vital role played by the research programme officers: Ms Emma Leahy (AMBER), Dr Maire Brophy (ADAPT) and Dr Raquel Harper (CONNECT). They conceived, developed and enabled this programme and I want to congratulate them today for their hard work in securing Trinity’s largest H2020 grant to date.”
Professor Linda Doyle said “The EDGE success has been a team effort. Three Science Foundation Ireland Research Centres – CONNECT, AMBER and ADAPT – have worked together to prepare this new programme which will help to make Ireland a global hub for ICT research. The successful candidates will strengthen our existing research groups and provide new collaboration opportunities with research institutes internationally. By offering industry secondment opportunities, EDGE will also further strengthen the relationship between industry and Irish research.”
“I want to acknowledge the vital role played by the research programme officers: Ms Emma Leahy (AMBER), Dr Maire Brophy (ADAPT) and Dr Raquel Harper (CONNECT). They conceived, developed and enabled this programme and I want to congratulate them today for their hard work in securing Trinity’s largest H2020 grant to date.”
Horizon 2020 is the EU framework programme for research and innovation. It began in 2014 and will run until 2020 and has a total budget of €75 billion to allocate for researching funding across the EU.
The national support network for Horizon 2020 is run by Enterprise Ireland, which works to increase participation by Irish companies and academic institutions in the EU’s main instrument for funding research in Europe.
