A joint investment of €12 million has been announced through a tripartite research and development partnership between the United States, the Republic of Ireland and Northern Ireland. The four awards announced will support more than 40 research positions across 10 research institutions, for three to five years.
The US-Ireland Research and Development Partnership, launched in July 2006, is a unique initiative that aims to increase the level of collaborative R&D amongst researchers and industry professionals across the three jurisdictions.
Next generation optical communication
These research projects include work that aims to enable next generation optical communication for a smart connected society; eradicate bone infection using cold plasma treatments; develop new approaches for the treatment of secondary hypertension and to identify a first pharmacological treatment for cerebral malaria, that may also help prevent and treat other hemorrhagic diseases or acute respiratory distress syndrome caused, for example, by the COVID-19.
The partner agencies in the Republic of Ireland are Science Foundation Ireland (SFI), the Health Research Board (HRB) and the Department of Agriculture, Food and the Marine (DAFM). In Northern Ireland, the Health & Social Care R&D Division (HSC R&D), the Department for the Economy (DfE), and the Department of Agriculture, Environment and Rural Affairs (DAERA) are partners. In the USA, it is facilitated by the National Science Foundation (NSF), the US National Institutes of Health (NIH) and the National Institute of Food and Agriculture (NIFA). These organisations manage peer review and support US researchers through grants, on which the RoI and NI investigators are collaborators.
Professor Mark Ferguson, director general of Science Foundation Ireland and chief scientific adviser to the government, said: “The continued success of the US-Ireland R&D Partnership Programme demonstrates the strong open relationship between our countries and highlights Ireland’s scientific standing internationally.”
Prioritised thematic areas
The programme, which uses a ‘single-proposal, single-review’ approach, focuses on prioritised thematic areas, including sensors, telecommunications, energy and sustainability, health and agriculture.
The Irish components of research projects in the area of health are jointly co-funded by SFI with the Health Research Board (HRB). HRB chief executive Dr Darrin Morrissey said: “The HRB is committed to supporting highly innovative international research collaboration through the US-Ireland R&D programme. These new awards have strong potential to create new knowledge and address major health challenges in society and demonstrate the high calibre of researchers we have in Ireland.”
Under the programme, Dr Ivan O’Connell, MCCI head of precision circuits at Tyndall National Institute, Connect SFI Research Centre-funded investigator, and previous SFI award winner, will lead a project to enable next generation integrated optoelectronics, to explore and develop energy-efficient, reconfigurable components for communication and sensing applications using nanomaterials. This project is partnering with Queen’s University Belfast (NI) and University of Utah (US).
Develop new therapies
SFI investigator awardee, Prof Paula Bourke, University College Dublin, will partner with Queen’s University Belfast (NI) and Jefferson University (US). Together, this collaborative team will develop new therapies for orthopaedic infection with antibiotic resistant microorganisms using cold plasma.
Professor Thomas Walther, University College Cork, will lead research to identify a first pharmacological treatment for cerebral malaria, a severe neurological disease syndrome with a high mortality rate, especially in children. This project is partnering with Queen’s University Belfast (NI) and New York University School of Medicine (US).
Dr Michael Conall Dennedy, lead researcher at the adrenal research laboratory, NUI Galway, and an SFI-CÚRAM investigator, will partner with Ulster University (NI), Kansas State University (US) and the Translational Medical Device Laboratory (NUIG).
Together this collaborative team of clinicians, scientists, engineers and mathematicians will research an image-guided approach for minimally invasive microwave thermotherapy (MWT) of aldosterone producing adenomas (APAs) for the treatment of secondary hypertension. They will also develop machine-learnt techniques for identifying APAs and monitoring therapy using nanocontrast technology.
For more information on the programme, visit https://www.sfi.ie/funding/funding-calls/us-ireland-rd-partnership/.