Trinity researchers secure Research Ireland Pathway awards

Posted on: 25 June 2025

Four Trinity researchers have secured awards worth a combined total of €2.57 million under Research Ireland’s Pathway funding programme.

A total of €23 million was announced today to support early-career researchers by Minister for Further and Higher Education, Research, Innovation and Science, James Lawless under the scheme.

The funding, covering a four-year period, will support researchers and provide resources to establish independent research careers. This targeted investment will provide each project with additional support for a postgraduate student who will be primarily supervised by the awardee. 

Dr Marco Rosario Capodiferro, Trinity; James Lawless, Minister for Further and Higher Education, Research, Innovation and Science; and Dr Ruth Freeman, Director of Research for Society at Research Ireland.

The Trinity funded projects under the Pathway programme are:

Dunzhu Li, Visiting Research Fellow, CRANN: Investigation and mitigation of surface stress-induced microplastics release from daily-use plastic products.

"Microplastics are a global concern due to their potential threat to the environment and human health. Recent studies confirmed that daily-use plastic products (e.g. plastic bottles and syringes) are local and immediate sources of high-level microplastics, which raises huge public concern. To date, little is known about the release mechanism of microplastics. Typical daily-use plastic products are semi-crystalline containing amorphous and crystalline regions. We recently confirmed that the phase separation of amorphous regions in bulk plastics is largely responsible for microplastics release while surface stress is a fundamental driver. To protect both human and environmental health, I will systematically investigate surface stress-induced polymer phase separation and microplastics release from daily-use plastic products. I will also undertake numerical studies of surface stress and polymer phase separation and modification of daily-use plastic products design and related processing conditions and design and develop prototype of typical daily-use plastic products (plastic bottles and syringes) using moulding method to lower the surface stress and suppress microplastics release."

Marco Rosario Capodiferro, Research Fellow, Genetics: ArchEvo: exploring the evolution of Archaic Introgression through the analysis of Eurasian and American ancient genomes

"The identification of introgressed genomic regions from archaic hominins (Neanderthals and Denisovans) in non-African modern humans, significantly altered our understanding of the evolution of our species. This 'archaic introgression' introduced new genetic variation that facilitated human adaptation to novel environments. However, the characterization of its impact on modern humans has relied on studying the genomes of contemporary Eurasian populations. A comprehensive model of archaic introgression’s evolution inside the human genome, and its impact during the rapid peopling of diverse environments in the Americas, represent two significant knowledge gaps in human population genomics. We propose to investigate the temporal and spatial evolution of archaic variation (ArchEvo) in modern human populations by exploring ancient genomes from multiple geographical regions, including Americas. With our newly validated approach, leveraging imputation, we will analyse thousands of ancient genomes across time and space. Identifying the quantity and genomic location of introgressed regions, along with potential selection signals across temporal and geographic dimensions, will advance our knowledge of the human genome's functionality and shed light on past adaptations to environmental changes. The project results will aid in integrating Indigenous Americans, often marginalised into populationgenomics, into archaic introgression investigations and promoting further research on ancient American DNA."

Niamh Ryan, Senior Research Fellow, Psychiatry: A multi-ancestry telomere-to-telomere genomic investigation of neuropsychiatric pedigrees

"Few clinically-actionable genetic variants have been confirmed for neuropsychiatric disorders. Whole-exome and whole-genome short-read sequencing (SRS) are commonly used to identify risk variants, but focus on protein-altering variants, as the most easily mapped to function. However, we know that ~10% of the human genome is made of 'dark' regions, inaccessible to SRS technologies. This includes genes relevant to neuropsychiatric research, preventing researchers from identifying clinically-relevant variants. We also know that the genomic landscape of diverse human populations is not well represented by the Genome Reference Consortium human reference genome. Long-read sequencing (LRS) is an emerging technology that can resolve dark regions, allowing telomere-to-telomere genomic analysis and the investigation of otherwise hard-to-identify variants (including structural variants, variants in repetitive sequences, and gender-specific effects). This innovative project will use LRS to investigate neuropsychiatric pedigrees from diverse populations, aiming to expand the range of clinically-actionable variants. This project will also investigate the differences in variant discovery for individuals across ethnic populations using different LRS read-mapping and genome assembly methods; and reference genomes (GRCh38, T2T-CHM13 and Pangenome assemblies). This work will adopt a more global perspective on genetic risk variants to enhance biological understanding of these conditions, ultimately improving diagnostics and therapeutics."

Deirdre Foley, Research Fellow, History: TÚS: Pregnancy and Giving Birth in Ireland,1950-2020

TÚS is the first comprehensive historical investigation into the experience of pregnancy and childbirth in the Republic of Ireland, 1950-1990. This is the most transformative period on record in terms of where, when, and how often women gave birth. State provision of maternity care expanded dramatically in this period but remains under-examined by historians. Drawing on archival, medical, and statistical sources, TÚS will create a substantial open-access oral history database, a public and digital exhibition and a podcast series. In doing so, TÚS will recover and highlights women’s voices and experiences of pregnancy and childbirth, from detection to delivery. From 1950-2020, hospital births increased substantially. The average family size decreased, the typical age at which mothers gave birth for the first time rose, and births outside of marriage increased, as did the diversity of birthing mothers in terms of ethnicity and nationality. Employing an intersectional methodology, TÚS analyses the differing experiences of women according to their social class, marital status, urban/rural location, race/ethnicity, religion, sexuality and ability in a network of maternity institutions historically dominated by Catholicism. The project's outputs will place this subject within the wider context of shifting historical attitudes towards the pregnant body, women’s health and welfare.

Making the announcement, Minister Lawless said: “This investment, through Research Ireland’s Pathway programme, will support emerging researchers in their journey from postdoctoral work towards establishing themselves as independent investigators. The projects receiving funding span a broad range of disciplines, ensuring a broad impact on scientific discovery and societal progress. By aligning with Ireland’s national research priorities, these projects will help drive advancements in key sectors such as healthcare, environmental sustainability, history and education.”

Trinity’s Associate Dean of Research Prof. Brian Broderick congratulated the winners: “My warm congratulations to the awardees. This funding is a key enabler for emerging researchers in our three faculties in Trinity College Dublin to pursue excellent research. I look forward to seeing these projects develop.”

Commenting on the awards, Celine Fitzgerald, Interim CEO, Research Ireland, said: “Our Pathway programme equips promising researchers with the resources needed to reach the next level and help drive impactful discoveries. These projects will contribute valuable insights into pressing global and national issues including public health policy, digital well-being, technological advancements, healthcare and more.” 

Co-funders in this Research Ireland Pathway programme investment are the Environmental Protection Agency (4 projects), Sustainable Energy Authority of Ireland (2 projects), and Met Éireann (1 project), and have contributed a total of €1.7 million to the programme. 

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