Ministers Heydon and Grealish announce over €1 million in funding for new food research
- Published on: 8 May 2026
- Last updated on: 8 May 2026
Minister for Agriculture, Food and the Marine, Martin Heydon TD, and Minister of State at the Department of Agriculture, Food and the Marine, with special responsibility for research and innovation, Noel Grealish TD, have announced more than €1 million in food research funding under the international strand of the Department’s Research Programme.
Announcing the awards, Minister Heydon said:
“I am delighted to announce that my Department will commit €1.048 million for new food research arising from the first co-funded call of the European Partnership on Future Food Systems. Cumulatively, almost €5 million in EU-wide research funding has been secured by these projects.”
Under the European partnership for a sustainable Future of Food Systems – ‘FutureFoodS’ - three transnational research projects with Irish research partners have been selected for funding. Researchers from University College Dublin (UCD), University College Cork (UCC) and Teagasc have successfully collaborated with international research organisations in other EU countries in securing EU-wide funding for future food system research.
Minister Heydon added:
“Ireland’s participation in European partnerships such as this demonstrates our continued commitment to supporting international, high-quality research that delivers real world benefits for the food industry.”
Minister of State Grealish said:
“These three European projects across areas including gut health, the food information environment and future food production systems will support innovation in our food industry, in line with our Food Vision 2030 ambitions. I commend the Irish researchers involved for their success, particularly those that will lead these international research consortia.”
These projects focus on empowering consumers through policy recommendations and digital solutions, the development of postbiotic fermented foods to improve gut health, and the production of nutrient-rich microalgae to create future food products.
ENDS
Notes to editor
1st Co-funded Call on sustainable Future of Food Systems
The FutureFoodS Partnership, funded by Horizon Europe, involve 86 partners from 29 countries including national and regional authorities, funding agencies, universities, research institutes, foundations, and competitiveness clusters to mobilize research and innovation in Europe. The principal aim of the FutureFoodS Partnership is to accelerate the transition from linear food chains towards circular food systems to collectively achieve healthy, safe, environmentally friendly, socially secure, fair, and economically viable food systems for Europe.
The Department’s financial support enables Irish researcher involvement in projects awarded funding under the FutureFoodS Partnership Calls. Details of the three projects that will receive Irish funding arising from the first Call are outlined below.
- Project Title: Fermented foods and gut health
Total European Funding Award: €871,960
Irish funding: €349,670,
Coordinator: Teagasc (Ireland),
Irish Partners and Institutions: Dr Harsh Mathur - Teagasc & Prof. Susan Joyce – University College Cork.
- Project Title: A system approach to reform the food information environment to support healthy, sustainable diets: mitigating harmful marketing and misinformation
Total European Funding Award: €2,401,330
Irish funding Award: €349,630,
Coordinator: Wageningen University (The Netherlands),
Irish Partner and Institution: Prof. Janas Harrington – University College Cork.
- Project Title: Future-proof microalgae-based foods
Total European Funding Award: €1,646,599
Irish funding Award: €349,000,
Coordinator: Wageningen University (The Netherlands),
Irish Partner and Institution: Dr Ronald Halim – University College Dublin.