Research Newsletter - Issue 111: Good News

PIs: Lead: Dr Daniel Murphy (School of Biotechnology); Co-Lead: Dr Silvana MacMahon (School of Computing)

Project Title: RaDiCare: A Digital Platform to Map, Guide and Coordinate Rare Disease Patient Care in Ireland

Coordinating Institution: DCU

Dr Daniel Murphy and Dr Silvana MacMahon have been successful in their application to the Research Ireland Innovating in Health and Wellbeing Challenge call. The call aimed to fund projects that support the development and implementation of effective, scalable and sustainable solutions that address complex health and wellbeing challenges in Ireland. Dr Daniel Murphy is the lead and is based in the School of Biotechnology working in the field of Bioinformatics, having worked in the academic, public and private sectors. Dr Silvana MacMahon is based in the School of Computing with a focus on Health Information Technology Systems. Research Ireland’s announcement of the result can be found here.

PI: Dr Stephen Behan (School of Health & Human Performance)

Project Title: Moving Well-Being Well Computer Vision Assessment Tool

Coordinating Institution: DCU

Dr Stephen Behan has been successful in an application to the Research Ireland Innovating in Health and Wellbeing Challenge call. The call aimed to fund projects that support the development and implementation of effective, scalable and sustainable solutions that address complex health and wellbeing challenges in Ireland. Dr Stephen Behan is based in the School of Health & Human Performance and has a particular interest in Elite Performance (Sport), as well as other research areas such performance analysis, sports analytics, data in sport, coaching and talent development. Research Ireland’s announcement of the result can be found here.

PI: Dr Sheila Castilho (School of Applied Language & Intercultural Studies)

Project Title: Open Science Communication through AI in EU Languages (OSCAIL)

Coordinating Institution: DCU

Dr Sheila Castilho and the International Consortium she is coordinating has been awarded funding for her project OSCAIL from CHISTERA. OSCAIL will gather domain-specific data in project languages and gather experts across multiple disciplines who will work with linguistic communities to explore new techniques of improving large language model (LLM)-based MT systems for scholarly translation.

Outputs will be integrated into the Open Journal System, the world’s most widely-used scholarly publishing platform for article submission, peer review, and production.

OSCAIL will focus on three key use cases:

Peer review: using MT to enable reviewers to work in their preferred language, and allowing authors to write and respond in the language of their choice.
E-discovery: allowing researchers, journal managers, and library and information science professionals to access and cite multilingual publications via translated metadata and content.
Plain language summarisation and MT of content into project languages for lay readers.

The project will produce protocols and guidelines for open science publication platforms, with awareness of the ethical issues involved and maximising the appropriate use of current technologies in overcoming language and cultural barriers for knowledge sharing in Europe.

Further information can be found on Research Ireland’s website.

PI: Dr Vicent Briva-Iglesias (School of Applied Language & Intercultural Studies)

Project Title: Terminology-Aware Machine Translation for Accessible Science (TaMTAS)

Coordinating Institution: UOC, Spain

Dr Vicent Briva-Iglesias and the European consortium he is a part of has been awarded funding from CHISTERA for his project TaMTAS. The project develops a new translation system that pays special attention to scientific terminology, ensuring that technical terms are translated accurately and consistently. It uses advanced forms of artificial intelligence that can “reason” about translation choices, review their own output, and maintain coherence across whole documents, not just sentence by sentence.

To further improve translation quality, the system will automatically detect possible terminology errors and correct them. It will also learn from these corrections over time. In addition, the project will create adapted versions of scientific texts – for example, simplified or more explanatory versions – making them easier to use in classrooms and public outreach.

TaMTAS will work with five languages: English, Spanish, Catalan, Estonian, and Irish, focusing on real scientific material in the Life Sciences. The project will collaborate with research and cultural organizations in Spain, Estonia, and Ireland to ensure that the translations work well for real users. The final goal is to make scientific knowledge more accurate, inclusive, and accessible, helping build a fairer and more connected global research community.

Further information can be found on Research Ireland’s website.

PIs: Dr Abel Polese (School of Law and Government) and Dr Jivanta Schottli (School of Law and Governement)

Project Title: FEMale ENtrepreneurs in Asia (FEMENA): Innovation, Policies, Challenges and Opportunities in: Laos, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Maldives, Nepal, Pakistan, Papua New Guinea, Philippines, Sri Lanka and Vietnam

Coordinating Institution: DCU

Dr Abel Polese and Dr Jivanta Schottli and the consortium they are leading have been awarded €1,603,200 funding from the Horizon Europe Pillar 1, MSCA Staff Exchange funding programme for their project FEMENA. This project will establish an interdisciplinary and international research programme focused on how female entrepreneurship is framed and supported across Asia. The project will develop a framework based on Amartya Sen’s capability approach, exploring how individuals in diverse contexts assess their opportunities and abilities rather than relying on overly specific or path-dependent categories.

Further information on the award can be found on the CORDUS website.

PI: Dr Vijai Kumar Gupta (School of Biotechnology)

Project Title: Sustainable biochar-enhanced upcycling solutions for Zero-Waste valorization of organic waste into circular economy products (Bio4UP)

Coordinating Institution: Universitat Autonoma De Barcelona

Dr Vijai Kumar Gupta and the consortium he is a member of have been awarded €1,513,020 funding from the Horizon Europe Pillar 1, MSCA Staff Exchange funding programme for their project Bio4UP. The project offers a circular and sustainable solution to the greenhouse gas emissions from organic waste as well as the loss of associated valuable resources. By combining biochar-based and biotechnological processes, it will turn waste into clean energy and green products. The project will enhance anaerobic digestion, biogas upgrading and CO2 reuse while transforming digestate into eco-friendly biopesticides and biostimulants. Using digital tools to guide sustainability strategies, Bio4UP brings together European and Latin American partners. Overall, its approach seeks to reduce emissions, boost bioenergy, promote sustainable agriculture and strengthen international knowledge exchange, advancing the transition towards a circular bioeconomy.

Further information on the award can be found on the CORDUS website.