Trinity Researchers among 47 teams awarded National Challenge funding

Posted on: 12 June 2023

Simon Harris, Minister for Further and Higher Education, Research, Innovation and Science, has today (12 June) welcomed 47 new teams to compete in the €65 million fund to work on solutions to major environmental and societal issues.

Funded by the EU’s Recovery and Resilience Facility, the National Challenge Fund calls on researchers to identify problems related to Ireland’s Green Transition and Digital Transformation and work with those directly affected to solve them. These teams are divided across four Challenges: Digital for Resilience, OurTech, Energy Innovation and A Healthy Environment for All.

The Trinity researchers and projects are:

Dr Yvonne Lynch, School of Linguistic, Speech and Communication Sciences, Trinity; Dr Keith Maycock, National College of Ireland: Project Lily: Enhancing speech language therapy supports for children (OurTech)

Prof Valeria Nicolosi, School of Chemistry, and CRANN, Trinity; Dr Sithara Pavithran, Dublin City University: Advanced perovskite solar cells for mass-scale sustainable production (SmarTSolaR) (Energy Innovation)

Prof Igor Shvets, School of Physics, and CRANN, Dr Sarah McCormack, School of Engineering, Trinity: Smart Materials for Energy Efficient Windows (Energy Innovation)

Dr Muhammad Ali, and Dr Mohammad Reza Ghaani, School of Engineering, Trinity:  Nano-AGS: Efficient and sustainable wastewater treatment using nanobubble-assisted aerobic granular sludge (AGS) process (A Healthy Environment for All)

Speaking today, Minister Harris said: “These teams have presented ingenious ideas and committed their talents to working for the benefit of the people of Ireland. We see examples in the news most days of why Ireland needs to work at the green transition and digital transformation and ensure that our innovation and research prepare the country for the future. In fact, the solutions being worked on in all eight challenges in the National Challenge Fund have the potential not just to improve life here in Ireland, but across Europe and around the world.”

Science Foundation Ireland Director General Philip Nolan said: “SFI is very pleased with the response to the National Challenge Fund calls and we are happy to be supporting these teams as they embark on an intense period of engaged research, refining and validating their solutions. We have learnt from our previous challenge-based funding that teams can make huge strides in very short periods of time.”

The National Challenge Fund is coordinated and administered by Science Foundation Ireland. Learn more on the National Challenge Fund webpage.

Media Contact:

Joanne Carroll | Internal Communications Officer | joanne.carroll@tcd.ie | +353 86 136 8036