Trinity’s science, engineering and maths researchers won two awards at the annual Science Foundation Ireland (SFI) Science Summit, with the College as a whole winning an award for developing links between research and industry.
Among the winning researchers was Research Professor Valeria Nicolosi of AMBER, the Trinity-based materials science centre. Nicolosi won the SFI Early Career Researcher of the Year award in recognition of her research on graphene-based nanomaterials for the development of more efficient energy storage devices. Professor Nicolosi has attracted approximately €12 million in research funding to Trinity for her work in this area.
Professor Nicolosi returned to Trinity in 2012 after a period of research fellowship at Oxford following her doctoral research, where she was awarded a €1.5 million grant for the European Research Council. She then became a principal investigator at CRANN and a Research Professor at the School of Chemistry and the School of Physics.
AMBER was also the recipient, together with the pharmaceutical company Merck, of the SFI Industry Partnership Award for creating an outstanding link between organisations involved in research and industry.
Dr Sabina Brennan, Research Assistant Professor at Trinity was also amongst those receiving awards at today’s event at which over 400 leading members of Ireland’s research community were in attendance. At the event, she received the SFI Outstanding Contribution to the Popularisation of Science Award for her work in raising awareness of the importance of brain health and the reduction of the risk of dementia. Her animated films explaining these issues have been circulated widely in 140 countries, with translations in 15 languages.
In praising the winners, Director General of SFI and Chief Scientific Advisor to the Irish government, Prof Mark Ferguson, said in a press statement that his organisation “is delighted to recognise and honour the excellent work and achievements of Irish scientific researchers in a number of fields.”
