Prof Kieran R Byrne, Director, Waterford Institute of Technology has welcomed the announcement by Mary Coughlan TD, An Tánaiste and Minister for Enterprise, Trade & Employment that funding has been allocated to Institute research under the Science Foundation Ireland Research Frontiers Programme.

Dr Laura Kirwan recently received €214,259 for her research project titled ‘biodiversity and species interaction – theory and application to multifunctional ecosystems’ under the Science Foundation Ireland Research Frontiers Programme. Given the widespread declines in biodiversity, considerable concern exists about the ability of ecosystems to continue to deliver benefits to society such as the production of food and fibre, waste decomposition, maintenance of soil fertility and purification of water.

This project in collaboration with Teagasc Environmental Research Centre, NUIM, and international partners in Oxford, Zurich, and California aims to develop Diversity – Function relationships that are useful for multiple ecosystem functions. This research is an extension from current approaches that look at effects of biodiversity on single ecosystem functions in isolation. Through the development of innovative methodology Dr Kirwan and her research team will experimentally investigate the true benefits of diversity when multiple ecosystem functions are jointly considered, test it using existing landmark datasets and apply it to new experimental work assessing the multiple benefits of grassland ecosystems. 

Prof Byrne stated that the Waterford research project was selected in a very competitive environment where less than one-in-five submissions were successful. “The selection process applied by Science Foundation Ireland is particularly rigorous as they identify and partner with researchers with a record of achievement and verifiable future potential. Ours is one of just four projects selected from the entire Institute of Technology sector in this round of funding.

“The Institute community congratulates Dr Laura Kirwan and her colleagues as well as Dr Willie Donnelly, Head of Research and his team in leading the first Science Foundation Ireland (SFI) strategic research cluster in the Institute of Technology sector,” Prof Byrne continued.

“Future knowledge generation and – in time – sustainable economic recovery can only be built on sound research foundations and this Institute is committed to continuing to play a complete role as a higher education institution with pinnacles of excellence in particular research specialisations.

“Knowledge is a commodity to be generated and traded in. This is crucial for the southeast region in particular as traditional sources of employment can no longer be relied upon. This latest research funding allocation represents a form of inward investment and will contribute to job creation in the region.”