Eight projects receive awards under SFI Research Infrastructure Programme

Successful entrants split €21m in funding

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Minister for Further & Higher Education, Research, Innovation and Science Simon Harris

Eight projects have been awarded a total of €21 million in funding through the Science Foundation Ireland (SFI) Research Infrastructure Programme.

The winning submissions include a facility using Hybrid Integration to improve semiconductor performance at the Tyndall Institute in Cork; a solid-state battery analysis and testing facility at University of Limerick; and a laboratory for advanced quantum materials eesearch at University College Cork.

“This support builds and sustains the required infrastructural capacity we need that enables our research community to thrive across the fields of materials science, earth and environmental sciences, energy, engineering, physics, and neuroscience and behaviour,” said Minister for Further and Higher Education, Research, Innovation & Science Simon Harris announcing the winners.

Prof Philip Nolan, Director General, Science Foundation Ireland, said: “The Research Infrastructure Programme funds state-of-the-art research infrastructure to drive excellent and highly collaborative research and innovation. The programme promotes transformative collaborations, in which increased inter-institutional and national sharing of research infrastructure across academia and enterprise makes for better research and accelerated innovation.

“The eight successful projects selected will help us, through research, to prepare for a challenging yet exciting future. The importance of this programme to our research system highlights the need for sustained and increased investment in research infrastructure over the coming decade.”

The Sustainable Energy Authority of Ireland (SEAI) co-funded one of the awards, which will see the establishment of a floating wind testbed integrated with UCC’s Energy System Observatory in Cork Harbour.

Margie McCarthy, SEAI director of research & policy insights, said: “We expect this particular project to unlock the significant potential for floating offshore wind in Irish coastal waters. Trial infrastructure and gathering delivery knowledge are key to achieving government ambitions in this sector and ultimately accelerating Ireland’s clean energy transition.”

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