Professor Patrick Cunningham attends President's Research Awards ceremony at DCU

Professor Robert Elgie, Professor Eugene Kennedy, Professor Ferdinand von Prondzynski, Chief Scientific Adviser to the Government, Professor Patrick Cunningham and Dr Dermot Brabazon

Chief Scientific Adviser to the Government, Professor Patrick Cunningham, attended today's President's Research Awards ceremony at DCU.

In a statement, he said that the government and business should 'hold their nerve'and continue to invest in science and technology despite the economic pressure to cut budgets. He went on to say that to stay competitive, Irish owned firms also need to invest in science, technology and innovation.

"Many already do - Enterprise Ireland is supporting R&D activities in more than 600 local companies of which 42 each spend over €2m per year on R&D. One third of our total investment is taxpayers' money, amounting to over €1bn in 2008. During the tough few years ahead, we need to ensure that this is well spent. Since over 60% of it goes to the higher education sector, mainly to our seven Universities, they have a special responsibility to ensure value for money, and delivery of the internationally competitive quality by which research must be judged."

The 2009 President's Research Awards have been awarded to Dr Dermot Brabazon of the School of Mechanical and Manufacturing Engineering and Professor Robert Elgie, School of Law and Government.

The annual awards are presented to researchers who have demonstrated research excellence in the areas of Humanities and Social Sciences and in Science and Engineering.

Dr Dermot Brabazon today received recognition for his substantive contribution to the research and education missions of the university. With his fellow researchers, he has attracted external research funding, and has also developed a strong track record in research in the areas of semi-solid metal processing, laser micro-machining, rapid prototyping and glass metal application, published over 100 peer reviewed papers, supervised 15 research postgraduate students and demonstrated excellent teach-working skills to promote research and research collaborations within the School, across the university and with external partners.

Professor Robert Elgie received the Humanities and Social Sciences award for his outstanding contribution to the study of political science. During his time at DCU, Robert has emerged as the global doyen of semi-presidentialism, a political system with a unique type of executive, which was once thought to be archetypically French. He has been a generous and inspiring collaborator, both within and beyond DCU. He has made an outstanding contribution to research and provided great leadership within and beyond DCU. He is an exemplar of a social science that is both rigorously scientific and politically relevant.