Naughton Fellowship Award
Gillian Duffy, a research student with the Marine and Environmental Sensing Technology Hub, MESTECH, has just been awarded DCU’s first Naughton Fellowship from the University of Notre Dame. As part of her PhD programme she will travel to the US to spend a year working with researchers on environmental monitoring. Her PhD will be supervised by Prof. Dermot Diamond and Prof. Fiona Regan at DCU.
The Naughton Fellowship was set up to provide opportunities for exceptional students of science, technology, engineering and mathematics, from both Ireland and from the US, to connect with leading researchers and to build stronger connections between the host institutions and countries.
Speaking about Gillian’s scholarship, Professor Fiona Regan, Director of MESTECH at DCU, said, “We are really excited about this initiative which gives Gillian the opportunity to work on a collaborative, technology-focused project for environmental monitoring at Notre Dame. Her work there will complement the work which is carried out with MESTECH here at DCU. The scholarship will also provide her with great career opportunities as a result of all the expertise she will gain from such an initiative and will build on the growing collaboration between our two institutions”.
Gillian is 21 and is from Westmeath. She has just completed a BSc in Analytical Science at DCU, specialising in Chemistry. A 10-week research scholarship with Professor Jens Ducree in the National Centre for Sensor Research (NCSR) at DCU convinced her to pursue her studies to doctorate level.
According to Gillian, “My PhD is a three year project. I'll be spending the first year here in DCU, working on optimising a nitrate sensor, and will then spend my second year in Notre Dame, hosted by the ND-ECI (environmental change initiative) and Professor Jennifer Tank's research laboratory, working on the optimisation of a phosphate sensor. I will also identify deployment sites associated with ECI research on the influence of agricultural land use on freshwater. I will spend my final year in DCU, building and deploying sensors and evaluating the data from the sensors. This involves working in analytical chemistry and sensor development, in order to monitor the nutrient levels (nitrogen and phosphorous) in water. This is important because when levels of these nutrients are elevated, there's an excessive growth of algae, which can result in death and decomposition of the algae, depleting oxygen levels in the water. Aquatic animals require this oxygen to live and will die as a result. This process is known as eutrophication - a huge worldwide water quality problem. It has been attributed to events such as fertiliser runoff from farm lands into rivers, from human sewage plants and animal wastes.
“The sensors I'll be working on are ideal for monitoring occurrences of pollution because they take measurements periodically, and transmit the data remotely so it can be analysed without returning to retrieve the sensor. Any increase in these nutrient levels can be detected and the source, can be determined.
“I am extremely grateful to the Naughton Foundation; the scholarship will provide me with much welcome support for my year abroad in the US and throughout my PhD”.