Minister Heydon announces €4 million for 21 new policy-focused research projects
- Published on: 16 December 2024
- Last updated on: 12 April 2025
Minister of State at the Department of Agriculture, Food and the Marine with special responsibility for research, Martin Heydon, announced €4 million in funding for 21 new policy-focused research projects. The awards arise from the department’s 2024 Policy and Strategic Studies Research Call.
Projects related to bovine tuberculosis, food waste, a national soil strategy and monitoring programme, and attitudes and behaviours towards climate change mitigation are among those awarded funding under the 2024 call.
Making the announcement, Minister Heydon said:
“I introduced a new research funding instrument in 2022 aimed at supporting short-term projects that directly address policy, strategy or regulatory issues in the agri-food, forest and bioeconomy sectors. Since then, I have been pleased to award funding to 25 projects and today, I am building on this with a further €4 million for 21 new projects."
The 2024 call contained 28 areas of challenge and opportunity which were developed across the department, under the broad headings of food safety, animal health and welfare, agriculture, environmental sustainability, bioeconomy and forestry. Projects can be up to 12 or 24 months in duration, with funding of up to €100,000 or €250,000, respectively.
Commenting the 2024 Call, Minister Heydon said:
“There is a wide breath of policy areas covered by the successful projects. This includes three projects related to TB which will examine biosecurity measures and communication, modelling for badger population dynamics, and the association between herd bovine TB breakdown and herd nutritional, metabolic and immune status.
“I am also pleased to be able to award funding to two projects which directly address recommendations of the Food Vision Tillage Group: investigating the feasibility of oilseed crops processing in Ireland, and a feasibility assessment of organic feed milling."
Concluding, Minister Heydon remarked:
“My department is committed to funding high quality, public-good research that addresses knowledge gaps and develops the evidence for public policy, strategy and regulation. These 21 projects will make an important contribution to this and I look forward to their findings and outputs over the coming two years."
Notes
Projects supported
Projects awarded under 2024 Policy and Strategic Studies Call
| Coordinator & Institute | Project Title | ||
| Orla Keane Teagasc | Multi-species swards for herd health | ||
| Mohammad Mohammadrezaei Teagasc | |||
| Amanda Sosa University College Dublin | |||
| Colin Kelleher National Botanic Gardens | |||
| Jennifer Attard Munster Technological University | |||
| Helena McMahon Munster Technological University | Circular Bioeconomy Education Centre | ||
| Aine Ni Dhubhain University College Dublin | Closer-to-Nature Forest Management in Ireland | ||
| Simone Ciuti University College Dublin | |||
| Thia Hennessy University College Cork | |||
| Karen Daly Teagasc | |||
| Nicola Fletcher University College Dublin | |||
| Niamh Field Teagasc | |||
| Kevin Kilcline Teagasc | |||
| Áine Regan Teagasc | |||
| Fiona Thorne Teagasc | |||
| Guerrino Macori University College Dublin | |||
| Locksley Messam University College Dublin | |||
| JJ Leahy University of Limerick | |||
| Conor McAloon University College Dublin | Q-fever in Ireland - characterising zoonotic risk | ||
| Michael Gaffney Teagasc | |||
| Patrick McGetrick University of Galway |
Call statistics
Nine Irish Research Performing Organisations will benefit from the awards:
- University College Dublin
- University of Galway
- University of Limerick
- University College Cork
- Munster Technological University
- Trinity College Dublin
- Maynooth University
- Teagasc
- National Botanic Gardens
36 contract positions will be created for postdoctoral (19) and other researchers (17).
The gender balance of the project coordinators is 10 male and 11 female.