Research Ireland fellowships support enterprise-engaged research

Research Ireland has today announced €4.4 million to support 46 fellowships across all disciplines under its Enterprise Fellowship programme. This co-funded programme enables researchers to gain experience beyond academic settings through defined research collaborations, while providing enterprise partners with access to academic knowledge and skills relevant to their interests.

Dr. Diarmuid O’Brien, CEO of Research Ireland, commented, “The high level of participation in the Research Ireland Enterprise Fellowship programme illustrates a strong appetite across disciplines and sectors for meaningful collaboration between academia and enterprise. 

"This investment supports the mobility and development of research talent by giving researchers experience across both academic and enterprise settings, and enabling the flow of knowledge and skills in both directions. Through these awards, we are supporting the development of solutions to real-world challenges while strengthening connections across Ireland’s research and innovation ecosystem. This is delivering on our recently launched strategy’s ambition to grow Ireland’s talent base, economy, and society.”

The 2025 programme was delivered through two streams, a Partnership stream and a Placement stream, each designed to support different modes of research in collaboration with enterprise partners.

The Partnership stream supports researchers to undertake full-time research in an eligible research body while working in close partnership with enterprise. 15 proposals were awarded under the partnership stream, with a total investment of €1.3 million.

Under the Placement stream, 31 awards were made, representing a total investment of €3.1 million. The placement stream enables researchers to pursue research on placement with enterprise partners worldwide.

Forty distinct enterprise partners are supporting this year’s awardees, and span small, medium and large enterprises, both indigenous and international, as well as not-for-profit bodies and charities. The 46 awardees stem from 13 institutions nationwide.

UCD Partnerships

Clare Moriarty, UCD School of Philosophy
Integral: Irish Mathematical Philosophy at the NLI
Enterprise Partner: National Library of Ireland
Funding: €102,247.44

David Nicoll, UCD School of History
Tracing violence in early modern testimonies: analysis and digitisation of the Poitou (France) depositions of 1681
Enterprise Partner: Marsh's Library+E6
Funding: €44,663.22

Joseph Young, UCD SMARTLab
The Big House Made of Sound: An artistic research investigation into contemporary heritage practices through an examination of Annes Grove and its archives, using audio augmented reality (AAR) technologies
Enterprise Partner: Office of Public Works
Funding: €49,168.17

Matisse Huiskens, UCD School of Art History and Cultural Policy
Unpacking the Paul O'Neill Archive at IMMA: Nationhood, Counterpublics, and the Curating of Contemporary Art in Globalising Ireland Since 1991
Enterprise Partner: Irish Museum of Modern Art
Funding: €97,357.72

Tess McCann, UCD School of Biomolecular and Biomedical Science
Proteomic Profiling of Retinal Regeneration in Zebrafish to Uncover Therapeutic Targets for Vision Restoration
Enterprise Partner: Fighting Blindness
Funding: €104,738.39

Tong Guo, UCD School of Computer Science
Low-Frequency Broadband Vibration Control Using Acoustic Metamaterial Panels Derived from End-of-Life Tyres
Enterprise Partner: Circol ELT
Funding: €89,890.56

UCD Placements:

Faithful Chiagoziem Onwuegbuche, (opens in a new window)ML Labs
FORTRESS: A Framework for Evaluating Security Risks and Enhancing Resilience of Agentic AI Systems in Enterprise Applications
Enterprise Partner: Workday
Funding: €92,047.80

Niraj Khemka, Systems Biology Ireland
Digital Twin model for colorectal cancer diagnosis
Enterprise Partner: AstraZeneca
Funding: €111,318.53

Saeid Sinehbaghizadeh, UCD School of Chemical and Bioprocess Engineering Fundamental Study of Nanobubble Mechanisms and Interfacial Properties for Wastewater-treatment Plants (WWTPs)
Enterprise Partner: Waterschap De Dommel
Funding: €94,084.57

Xingyu Fu, UCD School of Mechanical and Materials Engineering
Deep Learning based Computer Aided Process Planning (CAPP) for Industry 5.0
Enterprise Partner: Salt Medical Limited
Funding: €80,256.45

For details of all awardees visit the (opens in a new window)Research Ireland website.