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Minister Heydon and Minister of State Grealish announce €5.9 million for new ICT, environmental, animal welfare and bioeconomy research

Minister for Agriculture, Food and the Marine, Martin Heydon, and Minister of State with special responsibility for research Noel Grealish, today announced €5.9 million in research funding under the international strand of the department’s Research Programme.

Announcing the awards, Minister Heydon, said:

“As one of the key funders of research in Ireland, my department considers international collaboration a priority. Given the complexity of some of the scientific challenges facing our sector, and considering the commonality of these across countries, it makes sense for researchers to collaborate internationally. I am therefore delighted to announce €5.9 million in combined funding which will enable Irish researchers to lead or participate in fourteen projects with partners across the EU and the US."

These projects have been successful in three competitive European research calls and the US-Ireland Research and Development Partnership. The Irish researcher participation is made possible due to financial support from the Department of Agriculture, Food and the Marine.

For his part, Minister of State Grealish said:

“We have excellent research talent here in Ireland and I am delighted that this has been recognised by the success of the Irish participants in the fourteen projects across these four international research calls. The collaboration and sharing of expertise, resources and ideas will be across a wide range of areas including ICT and data technologies for farmers, bio-circularity, agroecological approaches at farm level, soil health, climate adaptation, crop breeding, and animal health and welfare."

Notes

The department’s financial support enables Irish researcher involvement in projects awarded funding under the first EU Agroecology Partnership Call, the Green ERAHUB Joint Call, the ICT-AGRI-FOOD Call and the US-Ireland R&D Partnership. Details of these are outlined below.

1st Co-funded Call on Agroecology

The Agroecology Partnership, funded by Horizon Europe, unites the European Commission and 72 partners across 26 Member States, Associated Countries, and Third Countries will support an agriculture sector that is fit to meet the targets and challenges of climate change, biodiversity loss, food security and sovereignty, and the environment, while ensuring a profitable and attractive activity for farmers.

Funded projects:

  • Project Title: Agroecology living labs fostering prosperous and sustainable agri-food systems, Funding Award: €495,700, Lead Irish Partner and Institution: Dr Achim Schmalenberger (University of Limerick)
  • Project Title: Enriching European Landscapes with Agroecological Practices, Funding Award: €346,822 Lead Irish Partner and Institution: Dr. Ian Short (Teagasc)
  • Project Title: Holistic evaluation of agroecological measures, Funding Award: €495,068, Lead Irish Partner and Institution: Dr. Ciaran Hearn (Teagasc)
  • Project Title: Strengthening Agricultural landscape multi-functionality through expansion of agroecological farming in EuRope, Funding Award: €497,978, Lead Irish Partner and Institution: Dr Saorla Kavanagh (Teagasc) and Dr Dara Stanley (University College Dublin)
  • Project Title: Agroecological Transition of the European Dairy Farming System, Funding Award: €373,075, Lead Irish Partner and Institution: Dr. Aine Macken-Walsh (Teagasc)
  • Project Title: Innovating for future-proof agroecological, biodiverse, and sustainably productive landscapes of Europe, Funding Award: €473,698, Lead Irish Partner and Institution: Dr Imelda Casey (SETU) and Dr Michael O’Grady (University College Dublin)

2024 ICT-AGRI-FOOD Joint Call

ICT-AGRI-FOOD is a European Research Area Network (ERANET) that wants to underpin the transition towards more sustainable and resilient agri-food systems with digital technology. The aim of the 2024 Joint Call is to address urgent global challenges in agricultural and food systems emphasizing the role of these systems in mitigating issues such as climate change, biodiversity loss and food security.

Funded projects:

  • Project Title: A Comprehensive Digital Platform for Land Use Planning, Carbon Footprinting, and Decision Making in European Agriculture, Funding Award: €500,000, Lead Irish Partner and Institution: Dr Ibrahim Khalil (University College Dublin)
  • Project Title: Consolidated virtual living lab platform for knowledge sharing and adaption in regenerative agriculture, Funding Award: €499,911, Lead Irish Partner and Institution: Dr. Yuansong Qiao (Technological University of the Shannon)
  • Project Title: Integrating High-Resolution Sensors and AI Decision Tools for Enhancing Agricultural Efficiency, Funding Award: €497,964, Lead Irish Partner and Institution: Professor Alan O’Riordan (Tyndall National Institute)

2nd Green ERAHUB call

The Green ERAHUB (GEH) research initiative aims to provide information, communication, cooperation, networking and joint transnational funding in the agri-food and biotechnology sector for national funders and researchers. The second Call on sustainable and resilient agri-food systems under the GEH was focused on the improved resilience and health of crops and livestock production and climate change mitigation.

Funded projects:

  • Project Title: Exploiting cereal biodiversity in nutrient use and biological interactions in crop resilience breeding, Funding Award: €395,758, Lead Irish Partner and Institution: Professor Fiona Doohan (University College Dublin)
  • Project Title: Field Analysis via Remote Monitoring and Sustainable, Decomposable Agricultural Nodes, Funding Award: €383,824, Lead Irish Partner and Institution: Dr Tamíris Da Costa (University College Dublin)
  • Project Title: Agrogeophysics for Sustainable Soil Management under Climate Extremes, Funding Award: €362,069, Lead Irish Partner and Institution: Dr Gary Gillespie (University College Dublin)

2023 US-Ireland R7D Partnership Agriculture Call

The US-Ireland R&D Partnership is a tri-jurisdictional alliance between Ireland, Northern Ireland and the United States More information on the call can be found here: gov.ie - Call Information: US-Ireland Research and Development Partnership

Funded projects:

  • Project Title: IDEAS Tripartite: Automated Piglet and Sow Monitoring for Early Detection of At-Risk Piglets, Funding Award: €345,545, Lead Irish Partner and Institution: Dr Edgar Garcia Manzanilla (Teagasc)
  • Project Title: Sustainable Production of 3-Hydroxypropionic acid and Biopolymers from Biomass, Funding Award: €255,926, Lead Irish Partner and Institution: Dr Adriana Cunha Neves (South East Technological University)

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