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 | Explaining Climate Change Mitigation Uptake Behaviour Change Dynamics: Farmers’ Attitudes, Motivations, and Barriers (EMIT-CHANGE) | ||
| Amanda Sosa University College Dublin | More than Wood: Assessment of Non-Wood Products and Services | ||
| Colin Kelleher National Botanic Gardens | Seed sourcing strategies for native broadleaf forestry species | ||
| Jennifer Attard Munster Technological University | Waste reduction initiatives for sustainable primary food production | ||
| 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 | Moving Badgers - Studying badger movement and interaction rate with both co-specifics and cattle to unravel their role in the spread of bovine tuberculosis across Irish ecosystems | ||
| Thia Hennessy University College Cork | Investigating the Feasibility of Oilseed Processing in Ireland (OILPRO) | ||
| Karen Daly Teagasc | A National Soil Strategy and Monitoring Programme for Ireland | ||
| Nicola Fletcher University College Dublin | Investigation of the risk of novel sources of hepatitis E virus to humans in Ireland: A One Health approach | ||
| Niamh Field Teagasc | Association between herd bovine tuberculosis breakdown and herd nutritional, metabolic and immune status | ||
| Kevin Kilcline Teagasc | Evaluating National And EU Comprehensive Targets in Organics | ||
| Áine Regan Teagasc | Optimising Biosecurity Risk Communication Pathways for Bovine Tuberculosis | ||
| Fiona Thorne Teagasc | Feasibility Assessment for ORganic Feed Milling (FARM) | ||
| Guerrino Macori University College Dublin | Advanced Serotyping for Porcine Pathogens Using Nanopore Sequencing Technology | ||
| Locksley Messam University College Dublin | Bitten by A Dog in the Republic of Ireland: A HUMan and ANimal Problem | ||
| JJ Leahy University of Limerick | Policy options for facilitating the adoption of biobased fertilisers from digestate in an Irish context | ||
| Conor McAloon University College Dublin | Q-fever in Ireland - characterising zoonotic risk | ||
| Michael Gaffney Teagasc | Steps towards developing a framework to establish the economic and structural impact of potential invasive plant pest introductions in Irish Agriculture | ||
| Patrick McGetrick University of Galway | CARBon footprint assessment linking FORest products across the full VALue chain |
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.