Royal Irish Academy’s Charlemont Grants awarded to Trinity researchers

Posted on: 27 March 2018

Three Trinity postdoc researchers were recently awarded a Royal Irish Academy Charlemont Grant which offers early-career Irish researchers the opportunity to travel internationally and further their research networks.

The Royal Irish Academy’s Charlemont Grants Scheme, established in 2007, is a travel grants scheme aimed at early-career postdoctoral researchers. The scheme, named in honour of the Academy’s first president, and notable Grand Tourist, James Caulfeild, the first Earl of Charlemont (1728–99), facilitates short international visits for the conduct of primary research in any subject area.

The Trinity awardees and their areas of research are:

  • Dr David Brown, The Cromwellian Servant Trade in Ireland, 1652-59, travelling to Barbados National Archives
  • Dr Andrei Marinescu, Optimising residential renewable energy usage using reinforcement learning and model predictive control in a real-world EV-based scenario, travelling to Transylvania University of Brasov
  • Dr Rachel O’Dwyer, Art Chains and Art Work: How Are Blockchain Technologies Transforming the Art Market? travelling to various galleries in London and Geneva

At the awards ceremony Professor Michael Peter Kennedy, President of the Royal Irish Academy, noted the importance of the award and the diversity of disciplines awarded: “The Charlemont Grants have a very special place in the intellectual life of the Royal Irish Academy, because they are awarded to researchers in the early stages of their careers. These awards are designed to act as a career springboard by assisting scholars in strengthening their international mobility and developing international collaborative networks. Charlemont grantees are drawn from the humanities, social sciences and natural sciences on the island of Ireland, and therefore speak to one of the Academy’s most fundamental missions by identifying and encouraging excellence in all areas of scholarship in Ireland.”

*Photo credit John Ohle.