Record number of IRC awards support science for a better society

New Foundations projects supported by €6.5m in funding to date

Life

Image: Stockfresh

The Irish Research Council (IRC) has announced funding for 76 New Foundations projects that will bring researchers and community/voluntary organisations together to share knowledge and develop new insights to help create a better society for all.

Since 2015, more than 200 community, voluntary and charity organisations have engaged across various Irish Research Council programmes, 278 projects have been funded with an associated investment in excess of €6.5 million.

The 76 projects will reach out across communities to look at diverse issues, including those affecting carers, senior citizens, young people, migrant communities, and the LGBT+ community. The impact of the Covid-19 pandemic on the wellbeing of different groups in society and on the delivery of services is also a significant theme within the research projects being announced.

Among the research projects that will be funded are those led by the following:

• Dr Haroon Zafar, of National University of Ireland, Galway, who will be working with Croí, the Heart and Stroke Charity on the remote management of heart failure during Covid-19 through ‘telehealth’
• Suzanne Smith, of Dundalk Institute of Technology, who will be partnering with Drogheda Community Services Trust looking at the delivery of care in the home
• Dr Siobhan O’Sullivan, of University College Cork, who will be part of a research collaboration with Bere Island Projects Group focusing on island housing and sustainable communities
• Dr Lydia Bracken, of the University of Limerick, who will be working with LGBT Ireland on the legal aspects of LGBT+ families
• Dr Declan Redmond, University College Dublin, who will be partnering with the Irish Council for Social Housing on mapping and evaluating the social mix of tenants

The New Foundations scheme also includes strands supported by government departments and agencies. In each of the past three years, a dedicated strand of the call provides opportunities for researchers to work on important areas of policy, including global development, crime, creativity and children.

TechCentral Reporters

Read More: Awards irc Irish Research Council research