Three Trinity researchers win highly competitive ERC Consolidator Grants

Posted on: 09 December 2025

Three researchers from Trinity College Dublin have secured highly competitive Consolidator Grants announced today by the European Research Council (ERC).

The awardees are Professor Mary Rogan and Dr Brian Barry from the School of Law and Dr Mark Ward from the School of Medicine.

Announced annually by the ERC, Consolidator Grants are valued at up to €2 million each over five years. 

Provost Dr Linda Doyle said: “I am delighted to congratulate Mary, Brian and Mark on this fantastic achievement.  

“These ERC Consolidator Grants are a reflection of their outstanding research and will enable the development of strong research teams in the years ahead. It is great news for themselves and for their Schools in Trinity. In particular, it is great to see a mix of Health Science and AHSS among the awards. The ERC supports excellence across all disciplines, and this is to be lauded. 

“These successes are an example of how Trinity is intensifying its research and innovation and consolidating its position globally as a research-intensive university.” 

Professor Mary Rogan’s project entitled ‘DOLI: Dignity and the Deprivation of Liberty’ will explore how dignity is experienced by people living in prisons, psychiatric hospitals, and care homes for older people in three European countries (Ireland, Norway and Romania).

The DOLI project will support the expression of people’s own lived experience when their liberty is taken away, combining insights and tools from law and human rights, social sciences, philosophy, theology, and health sciences perspectives. 

Professor Mary Rogan said: “To receive a third ERC award is both an honour and a demonstration of the transformative potential of ERC funding. I am so grateful to have the opportunity to advance our understanding of what dignity means to people whose experiences are often missing from our scholarship, policy and legal practice.

“We know people in prisons, psychiatric hospitals and care homes for older people are at risk of human rights violations, and being seen as less than, or even not human. This funding will enable me to bring together a team of researchers and people with lived experience across Europe to explore the meaning of dignity and support the protection of human rights in ways that were not previously possible.”

Dr Mark Ward, from The Irish Longitudinal Study on Ageing, School of Medicine, will undertake a project entitled ‘GLOmol: a global study of the macro- and individual-level causes and consequences of loneliness’.  

By bringing data together from over 30 countries and a quarter of a million individuals, GLOMol will explore the reasons for international differences in loneliness. Study findings will identify the cultural, economic, political and social factors that can be leveraged to protect individuals and societies against the worst effects of loneliness.

Dr Mark Ward said: “I am incredibly grateful to be awarded this prestigious ERC Consolidator Grant for GLOMoL. This award provides a unique opportunity to build a novel global data infrastructure on the important public health issue of loneliness. 

“With support to recruit a team of talented PhD students and postdoctoral researchers, GLOMoL will provide a new lens through which to understand how loneliness is shaped across different societies. This research will position the GLOMoL team—and Trinity College—as world leaders in loneliness research.”

Dr Brian Barry’s project is entitled ‘JUDGEASSIST: A framework for principled AI-assisted judicial decision-making'. JUDGEASSIST will examine the use of AI for assisting judicial decision-making, providing a robust, multidisciplinary response to the challenges and opportunities that arise. Combining law, psychology and computer science, the project will examine how trust, fairness and procedural justice can be maintained as judges adopt emerging AI tools in their work.

Dr Brian Barry said: “I’m thrilled to have been awarded a Consolidator Grant by the European Research Council and am grateful for their support. I’m really looking forward to building an interdisciplinary team to join my fantastic colleagues and students at Trinity, to whom I owe huge thanks, particularly the Trinity Research Development Office.

“AI and related technologies are rapidly reshaping how justice is delivered and will continue to do so. It's already being used for measuring whether criminals might reoffend, determining liability, and drafting text for judgments. Although JUDGEASSIST focuses on the role of AI in assisting judicial decision-making, its deeper purpose is to ensure that legitimacy and integrity remain at the heart of how courts operate. I feel enormously privileged to lead this work and can’t wait to get started.”

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