International Research
Trinity College Dublin ranks as one of the world's leading research-intensive universities, with a holistic outlook encompassing all major academic disciplines and addressing important international research challenges. Trinity's research and innovation strategy is committed to identifying and promoting research with the potential to make significant social and economic impact. With a world-class faculty, 40% of whom come from outside of Ireland, Trinity College Dublin is proud to rank among the top universities in the world for research impact, international collaboration and international outlook. This is just a small selection of some of our ongoing research activities.
Sustainable Resources
Solar Water Disinfection
As part of a long-term research project in the School of Engineering, Trinity College Dublin researchers have developed a water purification system that relies on solar power, is inexpensive to construct and maintain, and can be overseen by members of local communities in need of clean water. In 2012, a fundraising campaign was undertaken by a group of PhD students associated with the Innovation Academy to install a pilot system in Ndulyani, Kenya. Using an innovative crowdfunding method, the group raised over €25,000 to complete the project and continue to develop this important water technology.
TIDI
MSc in Environment & Development students during field work in Rwanda
Global Health
EquitAble
A collaborative project between Trinity College Dublin's Centre for Global Health, the Norwegian Institute of Technology and six African universities in Sudan, Malawi, Namibia and South Africa, the EquitAble project researches how to promote greater access to health care for people with disabilities and other marginalised groups in those four African countries. EquitAble aims to enable universal and equitable access to healthcare for vulnerable people in resource-poor settings. http://global-health.tcd.ie/research/projects/equitable.php
Global Justice
Centre for Post-Conflict Justice
Located within Trinity College Dublin's Institute for International Integration Studies, the Centre for Post-Conflict Justice fosters interdisciplinary research that explores how societies come to terms with extreme violence in war, civil war, and periods of prolonged civil and political unrest. The Centre brings together researchers in history, law, peace studies, sociology, theology and ethics. Its current projects draw from field and archival work in the Balkans, Eastern and Central Europe, Central America, Africa, the Middle East, and Southeast Asia, as well as the experience of the Peace Process in Ireland, North and South. Researchers also are actively engaged with international post-conflict policy communities. http://www.tcd.ie/sociology/research/post-conflict-justice/
Environmental Development
The Centre for the Environment
MSc students from The Centre for the Environment recently spent time in Kigali, Rwanda, to see first-hand environmental development issues such as the rehabilitation of the Nyabugogo wetlands, part of the watershed that forms the headwater of the White Nile. Demographic pressures and industrial development have degraded the wetlands and compromised their ecosystem services in the region. The students carried out four days of fieldwork involving communities surrounding Volcanoes National Park. One particular research group explored the consequences of the loss of access to natural resources within the park and for local communities.
Students from The Centre for the Environment carry out fieldwork throughout the world to support their research in Trinity College Dublin. The Centre for the Environment is an interdisciplinary research unit housed within the School of Natural Sciences and connected to the University-wide research theme of Sustainable Environment. http://www.tcd.ie/environment/
Next-Generation Medicine
Centre for Medical Device Technologies (CMDT)
At the Trinity Biomedical Sciences Institute, a team of researchers from engineering, pharmaceutical sciences, immunology and medicine are working on the next generation of implants and devices to improve quality of life across a spectrum of ailments and diseases including bio-orthorpaedics, neural-engineering, drug-eluting stents, implants and biomechanics. Ranking as an international hub for medical device research and manufacturing, Ireland is home to 250 medical technology companies exporting over €7 billion worth of medical device technologies and directly employing 25,000 people. http://www.tcd.ie/research/themes/next-generation-medical-devices/
Nourish
Trinity International Development Initiative (TIDI)
Poor nutrition and food insecurity is associated with weak immune responses and adverse health outcomes for people living with HIV and Aids, and who are receiving treatment for HIV. Presently, there are 1.2 million people living with HIV/AIDs in Uganda and according to UNAIDS food security and nutrition are critical for individuals, households and communities affected by HIV.
NOURISH aims to increase our understanding of the complex interactions between food security, HIV/AIDS and socio-economic factors, to impact intervention programmes at national levels and benefit the poor in Uganda. NOURISH involves Trinity researchers with expertise in health sciences, natural sciences and economics who are working to design and deliver interventions to determine the impact of environmental, health and economic factors on the experience and outcomes of Ugandans living with HIV/AIDS. NOURISH will create a HIV/Nutrition research cluster of academics, clinicians and policy contributors from Ireland and Uganda. The cluster will be led by Trinity with key partners Makerere University and the Infectious Diseases Institute at MU, Gulu University and the Joint Clinical Research Centre, and supporting partners University College Dublin and King's College London. www.tcd.ie/tidi/nourish