Trinity trio secure SFI-National Natural Chinese Science Foundation funding
Posted on: 28 June 2018
Professors John Donegan, Plamen Stamenov and Luiz Da Silva have won funding to support new research collaborations via a new partnership between Science Foundation Ireland (SFI) and the National Natural Science Foundation of China (NSFC). The projects will run over the next two years and support a number of researchers in areas of strategic importance to the People’s Republic of China and Ireland.
The SFI-NSFC awards announcement was made on the occasion of the Export Trade Council meeting at Iveagh House in Dublin, and is a direct result of a joint investment made by the Irish government through SFI (€8.6 million) and the NSFC (¥31,920,000, ca. €4,273,000).
The projects receiving funding were subject to rigorous review with approximately 250 international expert reviewers assisting in the peer-review process.
Professor in Physics, John Donegan, will collaborate with researchers at the Huazhong University of Science and Technology on a project focused on chip-scale optical frequency synthesisers, while Ussher Assistant Professor in Physics, Plamen Stamenov, will also collaborate with the Huazhong University of Science and Technology on an analysis under strong magnetic fields of advanced spintronic and functional magnetic materials for autonomous low-power communications.
Professor of Telecommunications and Director of CONNECT, the Science Foundation Ireland Research Centre for Future Networks and Communications based in Trinity, Luiz Da Silva, will collaborate with researchers at Tsinghua University on research around smart networking in the era of artificial intelligence.
The awards announcement was made by Tánaiste and Minister for Foreign Affairs and Trade with responsibility for Brexit, Simon Coveney, and Minister of State for Trade, Employment, Business, EU Digital Single Market and Data Protection, Pat Breen.
President of the NSFC, President Professor Li Jinghai, said: “The NSFC-SFI Partnership Programme supports excellent collaborative scientific research that has potential economic and societal impact. The programme builds capacity, expertise and mutually beneficial relationships between Ireland-based and China-based researchers, and will contribute to the global science and to the economic development in both countries. This is a wonderful beginning for our partnership, and I look forward to further cooperation between our two foundations.”
Congratulating the awardees, Deputy Director General of Science Foundation Ireland, Dr Ciarán Seoighe, said: “I am delighted to welcome the first eight awards under the new SFI-NSFC Partnership Programme. Science Foundation Ireland has been building research links between Ireland and the People’s Republic of China for the last number of years and the launch of these partnerships is a testament to the strong collaborative relationship between our two nations. Combining the expertise and resources of both research communities has proven very successful in attracting innovative and impactful project submissions, I am excited to see the outcomes from today’s successful applicants.”