Marie Curie awardees

Dr Éanna Fennell gained his IRC-funded PhD in Biomedical Engineering from UL in 2020 and is currently completing an IRC postdoctoral fellowship in UL on the role of the Epstein-Barr virus in the development of blood cancers. As part of his MSCA Global Fellowship, Éanna will extend his work on EBV to look at its contribution to the pathogenesis of Multiple Sclerosis (MS) at the University of Zurich, Switzerland for two years before returning to the School of Medicine at UL.

Dr Sarah Josefine Schaefer graduated with a PhD in English at the National University of Ireland Galway in 2020 and will join UL from the University of Nottingham. Dr Schaefer will investigate how journalists working for youth radio stations in ethnically diverse urban spaces in Germany respond to the challenges and opportunities of social difference. With a score of 98 percent, her project proposal was among the top-rated submissions in the social sciences and humanities. Dr Schaefer will work with Prof Helen Kelly-Holmes at the School of Modern Languages and Applied Linguistics and the Centre for Applied Language Studies, whilst also undertaking fieldwork at a German media organisation. 

Dr Sven Messing will research on policies to promote physical activity and co-design a toolkit with key policymakers from EU member states. He gained his PhD in Political Science and moves to UL from the WHO Collaborating Centre for Physical Activity and Public Health at FAU Erlangen-Nuremberg (Germany). Sven will work with Prof Catherine Woods at the Department of Physical Education and Sport Sciences. His two-year fellowship at UL will be followed by a six-month placement at the WHO Regional Office for Europe.

Dr Elaine Smith obtained her PhD from the Department of Psychology at UL, where she currently works as a postdoctoral researcher. Elaine will spend the first two years of her global fellowship in the School of Psychology at the Pontificia Universidad Católica de Chile, researching how support for indigenous rights movements is mobilised among the public through social normative influences prevalent on social media. She will return to the Department of Psychology at UL for the third year, under the mentorship of Professor Orla Muldoon.

Dr Arvind Singh Chandel completed his PhD in Biological Science (2018) from AcSIR-CSIR-CSMCRI Bhavnagar Gujarat India. He was awarded the prestigious JSPS postdoctoral fellowship (2019-2021) to examine and develop a postoperative peritoneal adhesion barriers. He has also been awarded the MK Bhan Young Researcher Fellowship Program 2020-21 by DBT India. Currently, he is working as an Assistant Professor (Tenure Track) at the School of Medicine, The University of Tokyo, Japan. Arvind will undertake his two-year fellowship working with Professor Maurice Collins in the School of Engineering. 

Dr Charlotte Lund Rasmussen was successful in her Marie Curie Global Fellowship application to work with Prof Leon Straker at the Curtin University Australia and Prof Alan Donnelly at the Department of Physical Education and Sports Sciences UL, in the third year of the fellowship. In the meantime, Charlotte has accepted a research post in Curtin University, and we wish her the very best in her career.

Dr Fahad Al-Zubaidi gained his PhD in 2021 from University Carlos III of Madrid (UC3M), Spain where he is currently based. Dr Al-Zubaidi will spend the two years of his fellowship at UL investigating different technologies and solutions to expand mobile front-haul capabilities to support 5/6G infrastructure developing relatively low-cost, high-capacity and low-latency communication links with Professor Michael Connelly at the Dept of Electronic and Computer Engineering (ECE).

Dr Shahid Husain graduated with a PhD at Aligarh Muslim University in February 2018 where he is currently based. He was awarded the prestigious EuroTechPostdoc2 fellowship (2022) to pursue research at Eindhoven University of Technology (TU/e) and Maulana Azad National Fellowship (2012) to pursue his PhD. Dr Shahid will spend two years of his fellowship at UL working on the Development of a Novel Machine Learning-based model for Multiphase flows under the supervision of Professor Michael Vynnycky at the Department of Mathematics & Statistics (MS), UL. Dr Pepijn van de Ven, Senior Lecturer, Department of Electronic & Computer Engineering (ECE), UL, will act as co-supervisor. 

Dr Aisling Ross

Dr Aisling Ross completed her undergraduate in Industrial Biochemistry at UL and a PhD in Biomedical Engineering at the Bernal Institute (2020). She then began a postdoc position with Prof Paul Murray at the Health Research Institute and Bernal Institute, studying the role of the Epstein-Barr virus in the development of lymphoma. As part of her Marie Skłodowska-Curie fellowship, she will expand on this research in the Walter and Eliza Hall Institute of Medical Research, Melbourne before returning to Prof Murray’s lab. Dr Ross was one of two researchers to achieve the top score in the Life Sciences panel in Europe this year.

Dr Joseph Mooney

Dr Joseph Mooney will research passive, carbon-neutral, clean water technologies for tacking the ever increasing global water crisis. With a PhD in passive thermal management of 5G Data Centres at the University of Limerick and a postdoc in Trinity College Dublin, Dr Mooney will work with Prof Evelyn N Wang at Massachusetts Institute of Technology, MIT, and Prof. Jeff Punch and Dr. Vanessa Egan at Stokes Laboratories in the University of Limerick's Bernal Institute, UL. Dr Mooney was placed second in the Engineering panel in Europe with a scoring of 99.2% for his project.

Dr Siobhán Griffin

Dr Siobhán Griffin was awarded a three-year global fellowship to examine the biological mechanisms linking depression with increased cardiovascular disease risk, and to test the potential of social identity interventions in alleviating such risk. Dr Griffin graduated with a PhD from the Dept of Psychology in 2020. Dr Griffin will spend the first two years working in the Baylor Behavioural Medicine laboratory at Baylor University, Texas, under the mentorship of Dr Annie Ginty, a leading expert in peripheral stress physiology, and Dr Danielle Young. The third year will be based at the Centre of Social Issues Research (Dept of Psychology, UL) under the mentorship of Prof Orla Muldoon, an award-winning researcher in social identity. Dr Griffin will also collaborate with Dr Brian Carson (Dept of Physical Education and Sports Sciences, UL) to foster the interdisciplinary aspects of the project.

Dr Jenna Lorusso

Dr Jenna Lorusso will research preparation for policy engagement to support quality physical education. Jenna will work with Prof. Ann MacPhail in the Department of Physical Education and Sport Sciences. Jenna completed her PhD at Western University in Canada and a Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council of Canada postdoctoral fellowship at the University of Limerick and University at Albany, SUNY. 

Dr James Sargan is studying new scientific approaches to the study of premodern books. James gained his PhD at the University of Oxford and will join UL from the University of Toronto. He is working with Dr Carrie Griffin in the School of English, Irish and Communication.

Dr Alison O’Connor is researching how the operational lifetime of critical infrastructure can be improved through artificial intelligence. Dr O’Connor moved to UL from Imperial College London where she completed her PhD and postdoctoral studies in engineering structural integrity. Alison works with Professor Noel O’Dowd as part of both the Bernal Institute and Confirm centre.

Dr William Cheuquepan Valenzuela, originally from Chile, is investigating a novel, disruptive and sustainable approach to photoelectrocatalytic carbon dioxide (CO2) reduction. The aim is to achieve an unprecedented control of the degree of photo-reduction of CO2 to high-value hydrocarbons in a biphasic system. He joined Dr Micheál D Scanlon’s group in the Department of Chemical Sciences and the Bernal Institute.

Dr Julia Alvarez-Malmagro is developing a prototype 3D printed bio/reactor for the controlled production of pharmaceutical materials in a stand-alone environment. She is a member o fProf. Edmond Magner and Prof. Vivek Ranade´s groups in the Department of Chemical Sciences and the Bernal Institute. Dr. Alvarez-Malmagro completed her PhD in spectroelectrochemistry at the University of Seville, Spain.

Dr Aurélie Van Hoye  is researching health promoting sports club’s policies, working with Professor Catherine Woods in the Dept Physical Education and Sport Sciences. Dr Van Hoye completed her PhD at the University of Grenoble-Alpes and is Associate Professor at the University of Lorraine. 

Dr Sergi Morales is studying the ethical and political issues faced by linguistically diverse societies with Dr Andrew Shorten, Department of Politics and Public Administration. Dr Morales completed his PhD and postdoc in Philosophy at KU Leuven. Dr Morales achieved a score of 100% for his project, one of only three to do so in the social sciences across Europe.

Dr Piotr Godzisz is a member of the Hate and Hostility Research Group working on the diffusion of international hate crime norms in EU accession states. He works with Dr Amanda Haynes (Sociology) and Dr Jennifer Schweppe (Law). Dr Godzisz completed his PhD in Criminology at University College London and joined UL from Birmingham City University​.

Dr Dino Carpentras studies the spread of opinions related to vaccine hesitancy using mathematical and computational modelling. Dr Carpentras completed his PhD in Photonics and postdoc at EPFL Lausanne. He works with Dr Mike Quayle in the Department of Psychology and Prof James Gleeson, Dept of Maths and Statistics.

Dr Lucia Mundo researches the Epstein–Barr virus (EBV) and its role in EBV-driven cancers. Dr Mundo completed her PhD and postdoc in medical biotechnology at the University of Siena and works with Prof Paul Murray at the Health Research Institute, UL

Dr Sumesh Sasidharan researches the role of myocardial perfusion on cardiac health and works with Prof Jacques Huyghe in the Bernal Institute. With a PhD in Mechanical Engineering from National Institute of Technology, India, an Australia-Endeavour Fellowship at the University of Western Australia, he joined UL from Imperial College London. 

Dr Mehakpreet Singh was Ireland’s first ever perfect scoring Marie Curie fellow achieving 100/100 for his research proposal with Prof Gavin Walker. He was one of only nine in Europe to have done so in 2019. He is working on a project on mathematical modelling of particulate processes for pharmaceutical drug manufacturing in the Bernal Institute.

Dr Ibrahim Saana Aminu gained his PhD in 2017 from Wuhan University of Technology, China. Ibrahim’s project focuses on the development of novel porous graphite cathodes with chemically tuneable-architecture (surface morphology, pore-hierarchy, rigidity and conductivity) for advanced rechargeable aluminium-ion batteries (AlBs). Ibrahim was the University’s Marie Curie Ambassador for 2020. 

Dr Arash Kia obtained his PhD in 2018 from the University of Tehran specializing in artificial intelligence models to estimate financial risk in global capital markets. Arash is working with Dr Finbarr Murphy in the Emerging Risk Group based in the KBS and is using the same AI models to examine the liability of cyber risks, particularly for autonomous vehicles.

Dr Mary O’Keeffe received a Marie Skłodowska-Curie Global Fellowship from the European Commission. The award enabled Dr O’Keeffe to attend the George Institute for Global Health at University of Sydney, Australia, one of the top ten research institutions in the world for scientific impact. There, she was hosted for two years by Professor Chris Maher who is the world leader in lower-back-pain research.