Internal MaREI Awards Winners 2022

Research Excellence

This award will recognise the accomplishments of a MaREI researcher who has contributed significantly to the advancement of science in the past year. Nominations should be based on a scientific breakthrough and/or an exceptional paper in 2021/2022.

WINNERS

Winner Individual Researcher: Seevani Bali, UCD

Seevani’s extensive work over a period of 3 years has led to a fundamental breakthrough in terms of how fluid-structure interaction can be unified for arbitrary and significantly nonlinear situations. 

Winner Individual Ph.D Student: Siddharth Joshi, UCC

Siddharth’s study will impact other fields, in particular, policies on climate and sustainable development actions aimed at mitigating energy poverty and it is expected to influence future decisions on the global climate policy of international organisations

Winner Research Team: BIO-RPISM team, NUIG (Xinmin Zhan, Yuansheng Hu, Shasha Qi, Dagmar Stengel) 

The BIO-RPISM research team have developed a novel patented technology for selecting and cultivating auto-floating microalgae, and the use of such microalgae for water bioremediation and production of biofuels and high-value bioproducts.

Participation Prizes :

Benteng Wu, Ahmed Mohamed, Xihui Kang, Ankita Gaur, Seyyed Masoud

Research Impact

This award will recognise a researcher who has made or is making, an outstanding contribution to research impact, in terms of informing policy, supporting industry or empowering society.  Research impact can be defined as “the demonstrable contribution that excellent research makes to society and the economy”

WINNERS

Winner Individual Researcher: Michael O’Shea, UCC

A key research theme in Dr O’Shea’s research is the standardisation of offshore renewable energy testing. This research theme examines the uncertainty in testing such as how to characterise and represent the marine environment, how this interacts with the renewable energy device concept, and how to measure and simulate the conditions for component and scale model testing. 

Winner Individual Ph.D Student: Ross O’Connell, UCC

Ross’s work on the Selkie Projects’ GIS platform will be the most up to date model for the Wales and Ireland region, covering a large area and taking 3 years of work with over 20 years of hindcast data included. The tangible impact on policy, practice and industry is immediately valuable. 

Engagement Exemplar

This award aims to recognise exceptional contributions made by MaREI researchers and/or support staff to civic or stakeholder engagement. It recognises researchers who successfully engage with audiences beyond the scientific community, and do so in effective and novel ways.  The focus is on a significant engagement achievement in 2019/2020 that may be categorised in terms of  

• Excellent Communication: that informs and inspires the public about research.
• Meaningful Consultation: for projects that have engaged in two-way dialogue and incorporated public views.
• Successful Collaboration: for engaged research projects that have involved collaborating with citizens, communities or the wider public, leading to co-generation of knowledge, solutions and citizen science.

WINNERS

Winner Research Team: COER Team (John Ringwood, Marco Rosati, Carrie Anne Barry)

The COER engagement team is made up of COER’s PhD students who come from academic backgrounds including mechanical engineering, hydrodynamics, aerodynamics etc. and who work on a range of ocean energy projects funded by MaREI, SFI, the Marine Institute and the John and Pat Hume scholarship fund. They are committed to inspiring the next generation of ocean energy engineers, with a particular focus on encouraging young women to consider studying STEM subjects. 

Runner Up  Research Team: IBSO Team (Ciara Ahern, Tomás Mac Uidhir and Jason McGuire)

The Irish Building Stock Observatory (IBSO), established in 2021 and resourced by MaREI researchers Tomás Mac Uidhir and Ciara Ahern with the support of Jason McGuire provide a better understanding of the energy performance of the building sector through reliable, consistent and comparable data. Focusing on the challenges of decarbonising the built environment, the observatory is formed via a network of relevant actors who meet monthly to share data, ideas, problems and solutions that aim to inform and support the delivery of climate and energy policy in Ireland. 

Winner Individual Researcher: Dr Paul Deane, UCC

Paul uses innovative techniques to explain complex issues and has authored and co-authored over 150 technical papers on the future of energy in areas such as electricity markets, European and global power systems, renewable energy integration and energy access. He is an active contributor to Irish Media and European policy thinking on clean energy and in 2019 was the Royal Irish Academy speaker in computer science and engineering.

Runner Up Individual Researcher: TJ Horgan, UCC

As part of the Selkie project, TJ has taken innovative strides to communicate the project’s research and values to as wide an audience as possible. Despite travel restrictions and lockdowns he has engaged with academia, government, public and industry across Europe, on many platforms in novel ways including a 12 part webinar series ‘ Meet the Experts’, and industry showcases.

Poster Award

Winner: Fabio Bozzolo Lueckel, NUIG 

Poster Title: Co-generating electricity and hydrogen from Ireland’s offshore wind –getting the balance right