💙💛 Sending positive vibes to everyone starting exams tomorrow 💪🧠📚🪑📝🎓🔜🎉

🌎♻️ Fantastic news: Congratulations to the four UCD research teams awarded funding for projects that will deliver sustainable solutions to environmental and social issues. Ten teams across various institutions will receive a total of €6 million under the National Challenge Fund, a competitive programme that aims to solve problems related to Ireland’s green transition and digital transformation strategies. The UCD teams receiving funding are: 🔹 Dr Shane Donohue, UCD School of Civil Engineering, and Dr Soumyabrata Dev, UCD School of Computer Science 🔹 Project: GEOMETRIC - GEOphysics and Machine learning for Evaluating Transportation Infrastructure Condition 🔹 Dr Oliver Kinnane and Dr Samar Raffoul, UCD School of Architecture, Planning and Environmental Policy 🔹 Project: Platform4MMC - Decision support platform for optimum and sustainable Modern Methods of Construction rollout to alleviate the housing crisis 🔹 Professor Fiona Doohan, UCD School of Biology and Environmental Science, and Professor Lorraine Brennan, UCD School of Agriculture and Food Science 🔹 Project: FungiTech - crop residues as a substrate for producing filamentous mycoprotein 🔹 Dr Kirill Nikitin, UCD School of Chemistry, and Dr Simon Hodge, UCD School of Agriculture and Food Science 🔹 Project: SINFERT - Non-aqueous Generation of Soluble Phosphate Fertiliser from Solid Agricultural Biowaste for Sustainable Agrifood Systems An additional team involves a collaboration between UCD and Trinity College Dublin: 🔹 Professor Niamh Moore-Cherry, UCD College of Social Sciences and Law, and Professor Brian Caulfield, Trinity College Dublin Department of Civil, Structural and Environmental Engineering 🔹 Project: CONUNDRUM: Co-creating sustainable and shared community mobility

🌎♻️ Four UCD teams have secured funding for research addressing the global challenges of hunger and food insecurity. In total, six teams from various institutions will receive €2.2 million in government funding to advance UN Sustainable Development Goal 2: Zero Hunger. The Sustainable Development Goals Challenge is a partnership between Research Ireland and Irish Aid. All six projects will involve international collaborations between research institutes in Ireland and Irish Aid partner countries. Many congratulations to the successful UCD teams: 🔹 Professor Supriya Garikipati, UCD School Of Politics and International Relations & Professor Kevin McDonnell, UCD School of Agriculture and Food Science 🔹 Project: EMPOWER-ME - Empowering Malawian Women Farmers through Precision Agriculture and Market E-Linkages 🔹 Goal: Empowering women farmers in Malawi to overcome the unique barriers they face and breakdown gender inequities in agriculture 🔹 Dr Catherine Phillips, UCD School of Public Health, Physiotherapy and Sports Science & Professor Fionnuala McAuliffe, UCD School Of Medicine 🔹 Project: AMEN - Personalised mHealth Maternal Nutritional Education for Equitable Nutritional Access and Improved Maternal and Offspring Health Outcomes in Sub-Saharan Africa 🔹 Goal: Ensuring that women from marginalised communities in Sub-Saharan Africa can access nutrient-rich meals, improving maternal-child health outcomes through Mobile health (mHealth) interventions 🔹 Dr Adwoa Serwaa Ofori & Dr Karen Keaveney, UCD School of Agriculture and Food Science 🔹 Project: SANKOFA – ReSilient climate smArt agriculture, iNdigenous Knowledge and traditiOn For sustAinable food production 🔹 Goal: Integrating indigenous knowledge with climate-smart agricultural technologies to build resilience in smallholder farming practices in Malawi 🔹 Dr Quan Le & Dr Anh Vu Vo, UCD School of Computer Science 🔹 Project: AiRRVie - AI for Climate Resilient Rice Farming in Vietnam 🔹 Goal: Using AI to help farmers in Vietnam achieve high rice yields while preserving soil and saving water in the context of environmental and climate pressures Each team will also have the opportunity to compete for an overall prize fund of €1 million for the most competitive team as part of the challenge-based funding programme. The funding was announced by James Lawless TD, Minister for Further and Higher Education, Research, Innovation, and Science, and Neale Richmond TD, Minister of State for International Development and Diaspora.

🦢🥰 𝒯𝒽𝑒 𝓁𝒶𝓀𝑒 𝒸𝑜𝓂𝑒𝓈 𝒶𝓁𝒾𝓋𝑒 👁️ I'm watching you, Heron

🕵️💨 A UCD-led study identifying ‘hotspots’ of hazardous air pollutants has revealed Dublin's Top 10 Most Polluted Areas 😷👇 🔹 Cork Street, extending from Brabazon Row to Newmarket. 🔹 Saint John’s Road West, from Custom House Quay, running along North Wall Quay to Cardiff Lane. 🔹 O’Connell Street Upper, from Promenade Rode, crossing Bond Drive to Tolka Quay Road and Alexandra Road (Dublin Port). 🔹 The road along the River Liffey extending to Temple Bar, crossing O’Connell Bridge and continuing to the North Wall. 🔹 N81, along the Wood Quay and extends to Harold’s Cross Road and James’s Street. 🔹 Crossroad around Newtown Court way-Clarehall Avenue and Malahide Road-Churchwell Drive. 🔹 The vicinity area encompassing Sir John Rogerson’s Quay and Hanover Quay. 🔹 From Custom House Quay, extends along North Wall Quay to Alexandra Road. 🔹 Cork Street, following Brabazon Row to Newmarket. 🔹 Residential area located at the southeast side of Riverston Abbey; intersection of R101 and N3 (Dalymount) extending along R101 to Chesterfield and North Road of Phoenix Park. Data collected by University College Dublin and Dublin City University (DCU) researchers shows high levels of nitrogen dioxide (NO2) exceeding World Health Organisation (WHO) guidelines and other fine particulate matter (PM2.5) across Dublin’s inner city. Areas of particularly high concentrations included Cork Street, O’Connell Street, along the Quays, and in the area around Temple Bar. The data showed that during the sampling period, 49.4% of days exceeded WHO guidelines for NO₂ levels, with peaks during rush hours, especially in winter. Collected as part of the Google Air View project over a period of 16 months, using electric Google Street View cars equipped with air sensors, the data showed that during the sampling period, almost 50% of days exceeded WHO guidelines for NO₂ levels, with peaks during rush hours, especially in winter. Carried out by Dr Jiayao Chen, Dr Anna Mölter, Dr José Pablo Gómez-Barrón and Professor Francesco Pilla, UCD’s School of Architecture, Planning and Environmental Policy, and Dr David O’Connor from DCU’s School of Chemical Sciences, the study suggests the potential of a mobile monitoring approach to investigating hyperlocal air pollutants across cities.

🥇 🎉 University College Dublin is Ireland’s most sustainable university, according to the latest @worlduniranking for Sustainability. 💙💛 Ranked first in Ireland and 49th in the world, the latest QS #sustainability rankings puts UCD among the world’s best for environmental and social impact. 🌍 It is the only Irish university to make it into the top 100 of the global ranking. And it is also ranked 28th in Europe among the 556 European institutions featured.

💙💛 Five UCD researchers have been awarded prestigious @ERC_Research Consolidator Grants—marking the highest number awarded to an Irish university in a single call! 👏👏 Huge congratulations to: 🔹Professor Cathryn Costello, UCD Sutherland School of Law 🔹Associate Professor Ruth Boeker, UCD School of Philosophy 🔹Dr. Aisling Ní Annaidh, UCD School of Mechanical & Materials Engineering 🔹Dr Maebh Harding, UCD Sutherland School of Law 🔹Dr Lai Ma, UCD School of Information and Communication Studies Each awardee will receive €2 million to drive groundbreaking research in Law, Philosophy, Biomechanical Engineering, and Information and Communication Studies. Congratulating the awardees, Professor Kate Robson Brown, UCD Vice-President for Research, Innovation and Impact said their success in this highly competitive call reflected "the breadth of expertise across disciplines at UCD and the quality of world-class research being carried out here."