Government to Grant More Than €28m in Awards for Agri-Food, Marine and Forest Research
The Minister for Agriculture, Food and the Marine, Michael Creed, announced on Thursday awards of over €28 million for collaborative inter-institutional research projects under the Department’s competitive research funding programmes.
The 43 awards involve collaborations between 19 different institutions and organisations including Teagasc, a number of universities and institutes of technology. The research investment announced will provide direct employment for 186 people including 65 contract researchers and 83 post graduate research opportunities in the form of PhDs (66) and Masters degrees (17).
The content of these grants were heavily influenced by strategic research and innovation agendas drawn up by industry-led, stakeholder advisory groups. The projects cover a number of key overarching themes including; sustainable food production and processing; managing for environmental protection and enhancement; sustainable forest management; delivering food safety & food quality; and food for improved nutrition and health.
Additonally, the Department of Agriculture, Environment and Rural Affairs, Northern Ireland, has teamed up with DAFM to provide funding of over €2 million to enable 3 research performing organisations north of the border to participate in 7 of the successful research projects.
Announcing the awards at a briefing in Dublin, Creed said “today’s research awards brings the total investment made by my Department over the last five years to just over €124 million. This research is a key component in delivering on the ambitious targets set out in the Food Wise 2025 and the Government’s Action Plan for Jobs”.
