Two Trinity researchers have won €2 million each in European Research Council funding, bringing the number of grants the College has received from the council to 26.
Dr Laura Cleaver, a lecturer in medieval art in the School of Histories and Humanities, and Dr Aline Vidotto, an assistant professor in the School of Physics, were the recipients of the Consolidator Grant awards, which were awarded under the EU Horizon 2020 funding competition.
The grants are awarded on the basis of scientific excellence and are prestigious in research communities. They support five-year projects, and are awarded to researchers in the middle of their careers.
In a press statement, Dean of Research Prof Linda Doyle congratulated the pair: “Dr Cleaver and Dr Vidotto are very deserving awardees. They are driven by curiosity, creativity and a desire to understand the world.”
“It is so important that the European Research Council continues to strongly fund basic and fundamental research and allows talent to flourish”, Doyle said.
Cleaver’s project will examine the trade in medieval manuscripts in the early 20th century, looking in particular at the impact that a small group of wealthy collectors had on the development of library collections. The project also will explore the network of book-sellers and scholars who facilitated and informed the construction of these collections.
In a press statement, Cleaver said: “I am delighted and honoured to be awarded this grant. It is wonderful to receive such a vote of confidence from an international panel of senior colleagues and I am really looking forward to developing this research into some of Europe’s cultural treasures.”
Vidotto will create next-generation models that explain the underlying physical processes of atmospheric losses in planets that orbit stars outside the solar system – known as exoplanets. Her team will attempt to determine the lifetime of planetary atmospheres in order to understand the diversity of sizes and masses of exoplanets.
Vidotto said she is “absolutely thrilled” to receive the grant and said in a press statement that “understanding the extreme environments of these exoplanetary atmospheres can shed some light in our big quest to understand the potential for exoplanets to develop life”.
Over the last three years, Trinity has won almost 50 per cent of the European Research Council grants awarded to researchers at institutions in Ireland. Earlier this year, four new projects led by Trinity researchers each secured funding of €1.5 million.
The College Research Development Manager, Doris Alexander, said in a press statement: “Trinity’s continued performance in the ERC programme is reflective of the successful outcome of a partnership approach between our excellent researchers and the supports provided by the ERC support officers.”
