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Results will be announced in September 2023 in a ceremony for all 4 categories of award.

The awardee for each category will receive a One for All Gift Voucher to the value of €500.

The 2023 SETU Research Excellence Awards will take place In Person on Friday 29 September 2023 at 11:30 am, with an open ceremony at South East Technological University (SETU) Waterford, Cork Road campus. The aim of the awards is to recognise the outstanding contributions of SETU academic and research staff to high quality, innovative research that enhances the reputation of the University both locally and internationally.  

The event will also be available to the public to live stream also from 11:30 am 1:00pm as the awardees are presented with a plaque commemorating the occasion by SETU President Prof Veronica Campbell, an External Guest Speaker, will congratulate the awardees. We welcome the entire SETU community to join us in celebrating the nominees and awardees in recognition of their research achievements. Light refreshments will be served after the event in the main atrium. 

The awards ceremony will also be attended by Acting Vice President of Research Innovation and Graduate Studies, SETU Waterford, Dr Thomas O' Toole  and Head of Research, SETU Waterford, Dr Geraldine Canny, who will announce the awardees under the following categories:  

1. Early Career Researcher  
2. Established Researcher  
3. Research Impact Industry and commercialisation
3. Research Impact Policy and Practice 
4. Research Supervisor Award   

There are limited spaces to attend the in-person ceremony in the Main Auditorium. Please register to attend in person or online via the form below before 12 noon on Thursday the 28 of September. Register here

A full list of Nominees by Category  

1. Early Career Researcher  

  • Dr Aisling McGrath
  • Dr Alison Hearne
  • Dr Don O' Neill
  • Dr Hazel O' Brien
  • Dr John Organ
  • Dr Shikha Ojha
  • Dr Sinead Morris
  • Dr Zeta Dooly

2. Established Researcher  

  • Dr Ashish Vashishtha
  • Dr Dean McDonnell 
  • Dr Haider Al Juboori
  • Dr Laurence Fitzhenry
  • Dr Peter Francis
  • Dr Ray Griffin

3. Research Impact    

  • Dr Imelda Casey
  • Dr Niall O'Reilly 
  • Dr Sharon Kinsella

4. Research Supervisor Award  

  • Dr Adriana Cunha Neves
  • Dr Ashish Vasishtha
  • Dr Claire Lennon
  • Dr Edmond Tobin
  • Dr Larry Stapleton
  • Dr Mike Kinsella
  • Dr Niamh McCrea
  • Dr Peter Francis
  • Dr Thomae K Duarte

SCHEDULE AWARD ANNOUNCEMENT

  

Award Timeline Proposed dates for 2023 Call
Launch 08/05/23 (WK19)
Nominations Received to [email protected]   31/05/23 (WK 22) 4pm
Nominee’s CV/Supervisors Record collected by RO from those nominated 16/06/23(WK24) 4pm
Sent to External Reviewers (Cat 1-3) 22/06/23 (WK 25)
Feedback Deadline for Evaluators  13/07/2023 (WK 28) 
Internal Review Meeting    27/07/23 (WK30) 
Announcement of Results  07/09/2023 (WK36)  
Award Ceremony    29/09/2023 (WK39) (see below) 

 

Previous Awardees 

2021

Early Career Researcher

Dr Kate McCarthy, Department of Arts, School of Humanities, won the Early Career Researcher award category. Kate’s teaching, research, and practice explores and challenges exclusionary and gendered narratives. Her research outputs take many forms including theatre practice, workshops, community engagement projects, public talks, podcasts, as well as publications. As a practitioner, Kate has facilitated and devised numerous contemporary performance projects in Ireland and in the UK, ranging from youth theatre to site-responsive and street theatre to drama and theatre education projects.

Established Researcher

The Established Researcher award was presented to Dr Pat Lynch, Department of Management and Organisation, and Co-founder and Director of RIKON.  Patrick has been researching and teaching innovation management and market analysis for over 15 years in WIT. As Director of RIKON, Patrick has amassed considerable industry, consultancy and applied innovation research experience in both management and delivery capacities spanning innovation processes and framework development, market and business research and analysis, new product and service development and business modelling and development and market development.

Research Impact

The winner of the Research Impact award is Dr Ramesh Raghavendra of WIT’s School of Engineering, SEAM Centre Director & Founder of 3DWIT. Dr Raghavendra has been a Principal Investigator on numerous Advanced Manufacturing related industrial projects including two large Enterprise Ireland Innovation Partnership projects to the value of €1.1m and €400,000 with MNC, SME and LEO companies based in Ireland. In his present role as SEAM Director, Ramesh is responsible for overall operational aspects and was instrumental in relaunching the centre in 2009.  Within ten years of launching of SEAM, Ramesh has established collaborations with over 235 Irish based industries and successfully managed to deliver over 3000 directly funded Industrial projects.

Research Supervisor

The award for Research Supervisor went to Dr Brendan Jennings, Department of Computing and Mathematics. In his 15+ years in Waterford, Dr Jennings was instrumental in delivering a vibrant, well-regarded research programme on communications network management. He has been Principal Investigator on research grants totaling €9m+. From 2014 to 2019 he was WIT’s first Head of Graduate Studies, leading the introduction of Structured PhD programmes and research student structures and supports across WIT. During 2020 Brendan was the Interim Director of CONNECT, the SFI Research Centre for Future Networks and Communications. Brendan has recently joined Technological University Dublin (TU Dublin), as the university’s first Vice President for Research and Innovation

2022

Early Career Researcher

Dr Rebecca Power, Marie Sklodowska Curie Action Research Fellow, and Postdoctoral Researcher at SETU Waterford, was presented with the Early Career Researcher award. Dr Power is primarily interested in the role of dietary patterns and specific nutrients in maintaining brain health, improving cognitive performance, and reducing the risk of Alzheimer’s disease.

Established Researcher

The Established Researcher award was presented to Dr Lee Coffey. Dr Coffey is a Lecturer and Researcher in Molecular Biology with Biopharmaceutical Science at the Department of Science, SETU Waterford and is a Principal Investigator at the PMBRC where he is leading the Molecular Biotechnology and Biopharmaceutical Research Group.
Due to the variety of nominations received for the Research Impact Award, the decision was made to split it into two categories 1) Industry and Commercialisation and 2) Policy and Practice.

Research Impact award for Industry and Commercialisation


The winner of the Research Impact award for Industry and Commercialisation was Dr Pat Lynch, Director of RIKON, a business innovation research centre in SETU Waterford. Patrick manages a team of researchers who are recognised for making real transformational change in business and re-imaging how companies can identify tactical market opportunities to grow business volume and develop breakthrough strategies and innovative business models to transform their organisation.

Research Impact Policy and Practice


Dr Noel Richardson was presented with the Research Impact Policy and Practice award. Dr Richardson is Lecturer and Director of healthCORE at SETU Carlow. He has extensive experience in the area of men’s health at a research and policy level.  His current research interests include men, masculinities, and mental health; and health promotion interventions targeted at ‘hard to reach’ groups of men in community and workplace settings. He is also a passionate advocate for men's health.

Research Supervisor


Finally, Prof Gillian Gardiner was honoured to be presented with the Research Supervisor award.  Prof Gardiner leads a successful multi-disciplinary agri-food research group within the Eco-Innovation Research Centre at SETU Waterford.  She has supervised 13 PhD students to completion and is currently supervising four and one Masters student. Prof Gardiner has obtained >€7.2 million in research funding since joining SETU and is Principal Investigator/Co-Investigator on a number of projects, many with industrial partners