The University of Limerick has been announced as the host for the new Dairy Processing Technology Centre (DPTC) as the Irish dairy processing sector continues to ramp up its preparations for the end of milk quotas. The DPTC is a collaboration of 8 companies and 9 Research Performing Organisations (RPO’s) creating 52 new jobs for highly-skilled researchers over the 5 year term of the centre. The €25 million investment by Government and industry will position Ireland as a  world leader in dairy innovation, and help to maximise the long term growth opportunities created by anticipated increase  of 50% in the Irish milk pool by 2020.

MACSI and the Department of Mathematics and Statistics have announced that Professor Cathal Walsh has taken up UL's Chair in Statistics. Professor Walsh joins UL from Trinity College Dublin. His research interests include Bayesian modelling,  evidence synthesis, disease and epidemic models, and biomedical statistics. He has published over 100 journal publications in these areas.

Lero - the Irish Software Research Centre at the University of Limerick has been selected by the European Space Agency (ESA) for the implementation of a research programme worth €400,000. The 18 month programme, which will be led by Lero Director Prof. Mike Hinchey, will commence this month.

Lero will collaborate with chip manufacturer Cobham Gaisler AB of Gothenburg, Sweden on the software behind specialist microchips to be used in European space missions. The Cobham Gaisler  LEON radiation hardened microchip, which was developed in association with the European Space Agency, is designed to operate in harsh environments such as space.

Researchers at UL’s Centre for Social Issues Research are looking for people to take part in a new study that will use people’s spit to measure levels of stress associated with employment and unemployment.

According to Dr Rachel Sumner, a postdoctoral researcher at UL, both employed and unemployed people experience stress and poor health and the aim of the study is to discover if there are any common factors by collecting and examining saliva samples.

Professor Colum Dunne, Director of Research at the University of Limerick’s Graduate Entry Medical School (GEMS), has been presented with one of the Irish Health Services Executive (HSE) Inaugural Open Access Awards by HSE Director General, Mr Tony O’Brien.

Professor Tiziana Margaria has been appointed Professor of Software Systems at the University of Limerick and a Principal Investigator of Lero, the Irish Software Research Centre. She was previously Professor of Service and Software Engineering at the University of Potsdam in Germany and is a former head of the Institute of Informatics.

Professor Margaria is currently Vice President of the European Association of Software Science and Technology (EASST) and President of FMICS (the European Research Consortium for Informatics and Mathematics Working Group on Formal Methods for Industrial Critical Systems).

Professor of Software Systems, Tiziana Margaria

Professor Tiziana Margaria has been appointed Professor of Software Systems at the University of Limerick and a Principal Investigator of Lero, the Irish Software Research Centre. She was previously Professor of Service and Software Engineering at the University of Potsdam in Germany and is a former head of the Institute of Informatics.

Professor Mark Davies of the University of Limerick has been elected a Fellow of the National Academy of Inventors (NAI).

Election to NAI Fellow status is a high professional distinction accorded to academic inventors who have demonstrated a prolific spirit of innovation in creating or facilitating outstanding inventions that have made a tangible impact on quality of life, economic development, and the welfare of society.

The University of Limerick has been successful in joining the Raw Materials Knowledge and Innovation Community (KIC), a partnership of the European Institute of Innovation and Technology (EIT) which is set to deliver over 10,000 jobs to the Europe over the next 7 years.

There are over 100 partners of the Raw Materials KIC, with a budget of over €800 million to invest in new innovations and up to 50 new SMEs in the supply of key materials for the manufacturing and ICT sectors in Europe.  Ireland has three core partners among this prestigious partnership including University of Limerick, Aughinish Alumina, Limerick, and Trinity College Dublin.

According to figures released by the HEA yesterday the University of Limerick continues to have the highest percentage of women at professorial level in the country. 31% or almost one third of professors at UL are female. This compares to a national average of only 19%.

Speaking on the HEA report, UL President Professor Don Barry said: “A university is about more than just buildings and facilities – it is the people who give universities life – they create a sense of energy and they provide the power to achieve great things. As you will be aware, in UL we are committed to ensuring that all faculty and staff are enabled to achieve their full potential through valuing diversity and equality of opportunity.”