Prof. Kieran Hodnett, University of Limerick and Dr Denise Croker, Synthesis and Solid State Pharmaceutical Centre (SSPC)

The annual conference for the British Association for Crystal Growth was held for the first time in the Mid-West at the University of Limerick. It was organised by the Synthesis and Solid State Pharmaceutical Centre, a Science Foundation Ireland (SFI) funded centre hosted at UL.

The Government recently flagged 4 planned funds in support of Project Ireland 2040 National Development Framework. The proposed funds for urban regeneration, rural development, climate action and disruptive technologies are expected to total €4 billion and due to open in June 2018.

l-r Conor Mc Carthy, CONFIRM; Jacqueline Kehoe, Cork Institute of Technology; Brendan Sheppard, CEO SmartFactory; Dirk Pesch, Nimbus Centre CIT; Mark Whelan, Enterprise Ireland; Anthony Kelly, Smart Factory

SmartFactory - a leading provider of solutions that add intelligence into manufacturing processes to drive continuous improvement, knowledge transfer and data-based decision making – last week announced a new release of software for its Work Area Performance System (WAPS). This is also a first commercial partnership for CONFIRM – the Science Foundation Ireland Research Centre with the NIMBUS centre at Cork Institute of Technology.

Dr. Daniel Riordan, Lero researcher IT Tralee and Mr John Rice, consultant orthopaedic surgeon at Bon Secours Hospital

Lero, the SFI Irish Software Research Centre and IT Tralee have announced a €223,500 programme with Bon Secours Hospital Tralee (BSHT) which could advance the future use of robotics to perform hip replacement operations.

The initial goal of the initiative, which is backed by Science Foundation Ireland, will be to develop a more accurate way for surgeons to place a hip joint so as to minimise a patient’s hospital stay and avoid re-admittance due to issues arising from the operation. IT Tralee is looking to hire a PhD student to join the five-person research team.

Prof. Gavin Walker, SSPC Co-Director, Prof. Caitriona O'Driscoll, UCC, Prof. Donal O’Shea, RCSI, Dr Denise Croker, SSPC GM, Dr Constantina Papatriantafyllopoulou, NUIG and Dr Anthony M. Reilly, UCD.

Synthesis and Solid State Pharmaceutical Centre (SSPC), a Science Foundation Ireland funded Centre, have announced 5 fully-funded PhD positions with their national teams based in the University of Limerick, University College Cork, Dublin City University, Royal College of Surgeons and National University of Ireland Galway.

Professor Stack, Foundation Chair of Medicine at Graduate Entry Medical School

One in four people in the Irish health system have elevated blood levels of uric acid, according to a new study led by researchers at the Graduate Entry Medical School (GEMS), University of Limerick. The largest study of its kind in Ireland has found that Uric Acid levels here increased at an ‘alarming’ rate from 2006 to 2014.

Uric acid has been linked with a range of conditions from gout to kidney disease.

Opinion: recent incidents may have raised concerns about unsafe planes and flying, but it's really about human psychology and the availability heuristic

There has been a steady stream of stories in 2018 about depressurisation incidents in the air, often with scary, sometimes fatal outcomes. In April, Jennifer Riordan was killed in an accident on a Southwest Airlines flight when an engine failure caused shrapnel from the engine to break a window on her plane. The sudden decompression caused her to be partially sucked out of the plane and, despite frantic efforts from fellow passengers, it was impossible to save her life.

The availability of online training on Research Integrity (RI) was communicated to all staff at the end of May. Such training is of particular relevance to researchers working on projects funded by such agencies as SFI, HRB, IRC, and the European Commission.

Two online modules on Research Integrity are available: 
• Research Integrity (Intro): An introductory course for new researchers, PhD students, post-doctoral researchers, and early-career faculty on the topic of Research Integrity
• Research Integrity (Concise): A “refresher” course for experienced researchers such as PhD supervisors and Principal Investigators including those funded by the above-named agencies or who are planning on applying for funding from said agencies