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Prof Tom Lodge, Department of Politics and Public Administration, Prof Andrew Fowler, Mathematics Applications Consortium for Science & Industry, and Prof Mike Zaworotko, Bernal Institute, became members of the Royal Irish Academy at a ceremony in Dublin at the recent 2019 admittance day, they were among 27 new members admitted to the Academy. 

Professor Kennedy, President of the Royal Irish Academy, said that ‘these individuals have made exceptional contributions in their fields of endeavour. We are delighted to recognise their achievements’.

A UL graduate has won the Royal Irish Academy’s Kathleen Lonsdale Chemistry Prize. Dr. Xinxin Xiao, a Ph.D. Chemistry graduate of UL, won the award which is granted to the best PhD thesis in chemical sciences across the island of Ireland.

The award, which is sponsored by Henkel and formally known as the Young Chemist Prize, is granted to the most outstanding Irish Ph.D. thesis in the general area of the chemical sciences.

A group of secondary school students investigating ways of growing crops in space are to have their project tested on a microgravity flight.

The team from Skerries Community College in Dublin will be the first ever Irish teenagers selected for the flight due to a unique partnership between the Irish Composites Centre (IComp) at University of Limerick’s Bernal Institute and Project PoSSUM (Polar Suborbital Science in the Upper Mesosphere).

Students were asked to design an experiment for testing on a parabolic flight and the Skerries team hope to address some of the challenges associated with developing sustainable sources of food for long term space exploration.

Brendan Courtney, Jack Murphy, Ellen Murray and Maria Walsh at the launch of the public awareness campaign Call It Out

NEW research from the University of Limerick underpinning a public awareness campaign suggests that the Irish public underestimate homophobia, biphobia and transphobia.

The recent research survey, conducted by UL’s Hate and Hostility Research Group, shows that while people in Ireland feel positive towards sexual orientation and gender diversity, they underestimate levels of homophobia, biphobia and transphobia.

The research is a major component of the groundbreaking LGBT+ public education and awareness campaign Call It Out, launched in Dublin this Monday.

Jerry O’Sullivan, Deputy Chief Executive ESB, Professor Kerstin Mey, VP Academic Affairs University of Limerick, Professor Merrilyn Goos, Director of EPI∙STEM and John O’Donoghue, Professor Emeritus University of Limerick at launch of the NAC initiative Picture: Don Moloney

A year-long pilot programme aimed at developing strategies for teaching numeracy across the school curriculum has been launched at the University of Limerick.

EPI∙STEM, the National Centre for STEM Education based in the University of Limerick, announced the new Numeracy Across the Curriculum (NAC) initiative this Monday.

The team from the University of Limerick led SSPC at the funding announcement in Dublin

THE Government has announced €230m in funding for six Science Foundation Ireland centres, including the University of Limerick led SSPC.

Minister for Business, Enterprise and Innovation, Heather Humphreys TD, and Minister of State for Training, Skills, Innovation, Research and Development, John Halligan TD, this Thursday announced an investment of €230 million in the six SFI Research Centres as part of Project Ireland 2040.

Industry partners are to contribute a further €230 million, bringing the total investment to €460m. The funding will directly support around 850 researchers in the various centres.

UL President Dr Des Fitzgerald has announced that the University of Limerick has attained an expanded charter Bronze Athena SWAN award.

He said: “I am delighted to announce that the University of Limerick has been awarded a Bronze Athena SWAN award to the expanded charter.

Dr Achim Schmalenberger of UL, fourth from left, at the launch of the project

A multi-million euro EU led project with three Irish partners including the University of Limerick is aiming to increase the recycling rates for plant nutrients in the food production chain by harvesting lost nutrients from waste.

ReNu2Farm, is a University of Limerick supported Interreg Europe consortium working together to offer farmers a better solution to non-EU mined phosphorus fertilizers by harvesting nutrients from wastewater and poultry litter.

The 2019 IEEE 5th World Forum on Internet of Things (WF-IoT 2019) was held at University of Limerick, Ireland between April 15th-18th.  It is the premier conference for the IEEE IoT Initiative and consists of the most outstanding participants from the research community, the public sector, and industry. The theme of this year’s event was “IoT and the Digital Revolution” in recognition of strides and leadership that the host location of Limerick and Ireland has made in developing operating principles, and policies for the deployment of “smart” technologies.

A UL researcher is to play a key role in a project that has been awarded more than €1m in funding to improve cultural inclusion across Europe.

Dr Aileen Dillane, a lecturer at the Irish World Academy of Music and Dance at UL, is the principal investigator in a transnational research project aimed at gaining a deeper understanding of public spaces in Europe.