Five researchers at University of Galway have been awarded funding from Research Ireland in a special investment in projects aligned with national priorities.

As part of the Research Ireland Pathway programme, the five projects will, investigate climate misinformation in Ireland; analyse gender balance in Irish opera productions; determine the response of microbial communities to environmental change; re-define interpretations of obscure medieval texts; and study the seismic vibrations of highly magnetised neutron stars.

The funding, covering a four-year period, will support the researchers to further establish their careers and allow for a postgraduate student to each project.

The Pathway programme is a national investment announced by Minister for Further and Higher Education, Research, Innovation and Science, James Lawless T.D., with more than €3.2m awarded to University of Galway.  

The awardees are: 

• Dr Brenda McNally, an Assistant Professor in communication and global media, and a Fulbright Ireland scholar in the University’s College of Arts Social Sciences and Celtic Studies. Her research project - Tackling Climate Misinformation in Ireland: An Evidence Base and Novel Resources for Journalists and Communications Professionals - will investigate the evolving forms of misinformation in Irish climate policy debates and examine how they are reproduced in news media. The findings will be used to co-create resources to tackle the crisis of climate misinformation with stakeholders. According to the UN Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change, rampant misinformation is delaying climate action. This is because it confuses the public about the need for urgent action and weakens democratic debate about the necessary responses. Therefore, improving communication about climate policy is urgently required. However, climate misinformation is fast changing making it difficult for journalists and communication professionals to identify and easy to reproduce. The project is co-funded by the Environmental Protection Agency, Sustainable Energy Authority of Ireland and Met Éireann.
  
  
• Dr Ciaran Arthur, a postdoctoral researcher in the Classics Department in the University’s College of Arts Social Sciences and Celtic Studies. His research project - Connect 4: Uncovering Knowledge Exchange within the Early Medieval Insular World through Linguistic Idiosyncrasies in Obscure Letters, Words, Phrases, and Texts – seeks to re-define interpretations of obscure texts that exist between British and Irish communities in the medieval period, exposing commonalities between different cultures, and how they interconnect. This is based on many texts from early medieval Irish and British manuscripts containing ancient and foreign languages, strange words, exotic alphabets, and cryptic signs. Its digital repository will provide a thematic, multidisciplinary tool to cross-compare, critically analyse, and attempt to solve meanings in these mysterious texts.
  
  

• Dr Anna Trego, a postdoctoral researcher from the School of Biological and Chemical Sciences in the University’s College of Science and Engineering. Her research project - Modelling Metabolic Stress Response of Whole Microbial Communities to Environmental Cues – will determine and model the response of microbial communities to environmental change, including changing climates. This project will study how whole communities of bacteria, viruses and fungi interact and respond to a wide range of environmental stresses at the genetic level. It will combine a unique incubation with cutting edge strategies and community modelling to identify patterns and gradients in community stress response. This set-up will provide a high-throughput means of testing stress-response in whole microbial communities from the whole-community level, down to the level of individual metabolic pathways and even genes.

• Dr Michael Lydon, a postdoctoral researcher in the University’s College of Arts, Social Sciences and Celtic Studies. His research project - Knowing the Score: An Analysis of the Gender Balance of Opera Productions on the Island of Ireland (2000-25) – will quantify the extent to which imbalances exist in Irish opera and qualify the socio-cultural, political and economic factors that have supported inequality. The study will assess the gender balance of the key creative and leadership roles for Irish opera productions from 2000-2025. The outputs of this research will include a series of ready-to-implement research-informed equality initiatives and stimulate sustainable and systemic changes in Irish opera that will enrich creativity and culture.
  
  

• Dr Oliver Roberts, a researcher in the University’s College of Science and Engineering. His research project - Good Vibrations – Studying the Seismic Vibrations of Highly Magnetized Neutron Stars (AstroMagnets) - will develop infrastructure with NASA and European Space Agency missions and global radio networks to better understand the connection between fast radio bursts and magnetar flares/bursts in space, through timing analysis of their “starquakes”, as well as monitoring active galactic magnetars, and testing new hardware and methods required to observe magnetars from space. Magnetars are the smouldering remnants of an explosion of a star 10 times greater 10x more massive than our Sun. Magnetars produce episodic bursts, intermediate flares and rarely, giant flares.

Professor Lokesh Joshi, Interim Vice-President for Research and Innovation, University of Galway, said: “Congratulations to our five successful researchers awarded this highly competitive Research Ireland funding that will further establish their research careers. This funding will also lead to the retention of postgraduate students to provide additional support to these diverse research projects and deliver meaningful societal impacts. Funding awards like this strengthen the University’s ongoing mission of being a teaching and research-led institution.”

Minister Lawless said: “This investment, through Research Ireland’s Pathway programme, will support emerging researchers in their journey from postdoctoral work towards establishing themselves as independent investigators. The projects receiving funding span a broad range of disciplines, ensuring a broad impact on scientific discovery and societal progress. By aligning with Ireland’s national research priorities, these projects will help drive advancements in key sectors such as healthcare, environmental sustainability, history and education.”

Celine Fitzgerald, Interim CEO, Research Ireland, said: “Our Pathway programme equips promising researchers with the resources needed to reach the next level and help drive impactful discoveries. These projects will contribute valuable insights into pressing global and national issues including public health policy, digital well-being, technological advancements, healthcare and more.”

Ends