Trinity’s Prof John Boland was crowned Researcher of the Year, among four Trinity academics honoured overall, at the annual awards ceremony of Science Foundation Ireland (SFI).
Dr Tomás Ryan, Dr John O’Donoghue and Prof Jane Farrar, all from Trinity, were also recognised at the ceremony.
The prestigious awards celebrate members of Ireland’s research community who have made notable contributions to the fields of STEM subjects.
Boland, a professor in the School of Chemistry, previously served as Director of the Centre for Research on Adaptive Nanostructures and Nanodevices (CRANN) and Advanced Materials and Bioengineering Research (AMBER). He has previously received three SFI Investigator awards.
Commenting on the news, Boland said: “Being recognised as Researcher of the Year is no small accolade and I am deeply honoured to receive it.”
Ryan, an associate professor in Trinity’s School of Biochemistry and Immunology, as well at at the School of Neuroscience, received the “Early Career Researcher of the Year” award.
Ryan said he was “honoured” to receive the accolade. He stated: “It is both humbling and encouraging to be acknowledged for the work that my team and I are doing together.”
O’Donoghue was one of two recipients of the Outstanding Contribution to STEM Communication award. As chemical education coordinator at Trinity’s School of Chemistry, O’Donoghue has designed initiatives to help secondary school students and the general public engage with STEM subjects, and has organised career events to highlight possible job opportunities for students.
Farrar, of Trinity’s School of Genetics and Microbiology, won the Reported Impact Award. The award recognises “the potential impact of an SFI researcher’s award and their commitment to maximising the impact of their research”.
Speaking at the event, Minister for Business, Enterprise and Innovation Heather Humphreys congratulated those who received awards, saying that “their discoveries will bring economic growth and societal development in Ireland”.
Other awards included those for the Research Image of the Year, won by Dr Sithara Sreenilayam Pavithran from Dublin City University (DCU), and the Entrepreneurship Award, which was handed to University College Dublin’s (UCD) Eoin Casey.
