Minister Lawless announces €2.5million for 28 Research Ireland industry-focused fellowships

Five researchers from UCD have secured fellowships with industry partners via the(opens in a new window)Research IrelandIndustry Research, Development, and Innovation Fellowship (IRDIF) Programme.

The fellowships are supported by funding and vary in duration between 12 and 24 months, enabling recipients to undertake placements in 22 companies and work on projects across diverse fields.

The UCD awardees are:

• Dr Hossein Kiani,UCD School of Biosystems and Food Engineering
  • Industry partner: Arrabawn Co-Operative Ltd
  • Project: PhosphoGreen: Converting dairy processing side-streams (acid casein whey) into sustainable phosphate supplement using optimised novel phosphate removal approaches
• Dr Jiaying Guo,UCD School of Computer Science 
  • Industry partner: TechWorks Marine
  • Project: HABShield: Online Multimodal Spatio-Temporal, LLM-Enhanced, Explainable AI Detection System for Harmful Algal Bloom Alerts
• Dr Jing Lyu,UCD School of Medicine 
  • Industry partner: Branca Bunús Ltd.
  • Project: Development of A New Knot Polymeric Gene Transfection Reagent Towards Recessive Dystrophic Epidermolysis Bullosa (RDEB) Treatment
• Dr Rijian Song,UCD School of Medicine
  • Industry partner: Bláfar Ltd.
  • Project: Development of Tough Injectable Hydrogel System for Cartilage Repair
• Dr Tianyu Guan,UCD School of Mechanical and Materials Engineering
  • Industry partner: Marama Labs Limited
  • Project: Development of high-throughput dialysis system for RNA-lipid nanoparticles (LNPs) purification

”These awards are another example of UCD’s research community working collaboratively with industry to build Ireland’s knowledge economy and develop solutions with real impact for business and society,” said UCD Vice-President for Research, Innovation and Impact,Professor Kate Robson Brown.

“Research Ireland’s Industry Research Development and Innovation Fellowship Programme is an excellent example of how the best of academic research and industry expertise can be brought together to tackle challenges and deliver impactful solutions,” said James Lawless, Minister for Further and Higher Education, Research, Innovation and Science, announcing the awards.

“The initiative strengthens our national research ecosystem and highlights the importance of partnerships in fostering innovation that drives societal and economic growth. I look forward to the significant contributions these fellowships will bring.”

By: Rebecca Hastings, Digital Journalist, UCD University Relations