The Annual Trinity School of Medicine Research Awards, now in its fifth year, was established to recognise research excellence, support innovation at critical inflection points, and to give researchers the confidence and momentum to compete successfully on the national and international stage.
The 2026 TCD Med Awardees were announced at a special celebration in May attended by the Provost and President of Trinity College, Professor Linda Doyle. This year’s competition comprised a total purse of €48,000, across four strategic strands designed to amplify the School's research impact:
- TCD Med Seed Awards (3 Awards | €30,000 total): Aimed at fostering innovation and enhancing the School’s ability to compete for large-scale external funding by supporting new research projects from early- and mid-career researchers.
- TCD Med Doctoral Research Support Awards (2 Awards | €10,000 total): Designed to maximize the impact of PhD projects and promote research excellence by supplementing under-resourced doctoral studies.
- TCD Med Grant Writing Support Award (1 Award | €5,000): Facilitates the construction of strategically significant, international, and interdisciplinary proposals to diversify and grow the School's research income.
- TCD Med Short Term Travel Awards (2 Awards | €3,000 total): Supports international mobility to acquire new research techniques and build global networks, positioning School of Medicine researchers to lead on the world stage.
The winners of the respective awards and the title of their research project is outlined below:
TCD Med Seed Awardees 2026
Dr Leonie Fleige, Department Molecular Rheumatology, TBSI, was awarded a TCD Med Seed Award for her project “Queuine Replacement – A Novel Approach to Suppress T-cell Mediated Synovial Inflammation in Rheumatoid Arthritis.” This project investigates the role of the micronutrient queuine in Rheumatoid Arthritis and explores whether queuine replacement with structurally similar analogues could represent a novel therapeutic strategy. The project aims to better understand queuine’s role in immune regulation in Rheumatoid Arthritis, while generating proof-of-concept data to support future therapeutic strategies.
Dr Marjorie Metzger, Academic Unit of Neurology, TBSI, was awarded a TCD Med Seed Award for her project “Time-Resolved EEG Networks of Imagined Speech in Amyotrophic Lateral Sclerosis.” This project uses EEG to investigate imagined speech as a novel way to detect language and cognitive difficulties in amyotrophic lateral sclerosis, avoiding the limitations of traditional speech-based assessments. By analysing brain network activity, it aims to identify subtle, disease-related changes in cortical function. The work hopes to generate early-stage biomarkers to improve clinical insight and support future assistive communication technologies.
Dr Sarah Barrett, Assistant Professor, Discipline of Radiation Therapy SJH, was awarded a TCD Med Seed Award for her project “Immune-Sparing Radiation Therapy in Lung Cancer: Measurement, Meaning and Mitigation.” This project explores "immune-sparing" radiation therapy for lung cancer by adjusting treatment plans to account for tumours shrinking during the course of treatment. By reducing radiation exposure to the immune system, a dynamic network of tissue not traditionally considered in radiation therapy planning, the research aims to leverage modern technical RT capabilities to reduce side effects and potentially improve how well patients respond to immunotherapy.
TCD Med Doctoral Research Support Awardees 2026
Dr. Maeve Caldwell and Yuhang Lei, Discipline of Physiology, TCIN, were awarded a TCD Med Doctoral Research Support Award for their project “Peripheral immune cell secreted cytokines induce a Reactive Phenotype in iPSC-derived Midbrain Astrocytes; implications for Parkinson’s disease.” This project will investigate whether peripheral CD4+ T cells from people with Parkinson’s disease induce disease related alterations in astrocytes, with the aim of uncovering a mechanistic link between peripheral CD4+ T cell dysregulation and astrocyte dysfunction in Parkinson’s disease.
Dr. Tony McElligott & Julie David, Molecular Haematology, TTMI, were awarded a TCD Med Doctoral Research Support Award for their project “Novel Therapeutic Strategies in Chronic Lymphocytic Leukaemia ”. This project will investigate new therapeutic approaches for the treatment of Chronic Lymphocytic Leukaemia (CLL), with a particular focus on overcoming treatment resistance and improving patient outcomes. The research aims to identify and evaluate novel targeted strategies that disrupt key survival pathways in CLL cells and their interactions with the tumour microenvironment, with the long-term goal of supporting the development of more effective and durable therapies for patients with CLL.
TCD Med Short term Travel Awardees 2026
Dr Camille Hurley, Dept of Surgery, St James's Hospital, was awarded a TCD Med Short term Travel Award for her project “Enhancing Digital Pathology Capabilities via Expert-Led AI and Spatial Analysis Training.” Camille is a translational oncology researcher at Trinity Translational Medicine Institute specializing in upper gastrointestinal cancer. Her work focuses on patient-derived organoid models and precision medicine approaches, with growing interests in artificial intelligence and digital pathology to better characterize the tumour microenvironment and treatment response. This award will support advanced training in computational pathology and spatial analysis with Prof. Inti Zlobec's pioneering research group at the Institute of Tissue Medicine and Pathology, University of Bern.
Dr Allyson Gallant, Research Fellow in the Discipline of Public Health & Primary Care, Tallaght University Hospital, was awarded a TCD Med Short term Travel Award for her project “Strengthening Integrated Care for Youth with Mental Health Difficulties: Driving Health System Transformations in Ireland & Canada.” Allyson is working with Professor Catherine Darker on the HRB-funded SCOPE for HEALTH study, which aims to strengthen how primary and secondary healthcare services work together in Ireland to support young people experiencing mental health difficulties, with the goal of creating an implementation plan to integrate mental, physical and sexual healthcare for adolescents in Ireland. The short-term travel award will support a research visit to Dalhousie University in Nova Scotia, Canada to collaborate with leading experts in integrated youth mental healthcare to gain international insights that can help shape more coordinated, equitable, and evidence-based mental health services in Ireland.
See video highlights of the winning candidates speaking about their research here.
Annual Trinity School of Medicine Research Awards ceremony 2026: left to right: Professor Sarah Doyle, Director of Research, Dr Leonie Fleige, Dr Marjorie Metzger, Professor Maeve Caldwell, Julie David, Dr Sarah Barrett, Dr Camille Hurley, Professor Mark Little, Dr Allyson Gallant, Dr. Tony McElligott