Two DCU projects win the final of the Research Ireland National Challenge Fund
Minister for Further and Higher Education, Research, Innovation and Science, James Lawless TD, today announced over €6.9 million in prize phase funding for four research teams across the final two challenge programmes under the National Challenge Fund.
Funded by the EU’s Recovery and Resilience Facility, the Fund calls on researchers to identify problems related to Ireland’s Green Transition and Digital Transformation, and work directly with those most affected to solve them.
Sustainable Communities Challenge
PUreTex, led by Dr Susan Kelleher and co-led by Dr Jennifer Gaughran, Dublin City University with Societal Impact Champion Claire Downey, The Rediscovery Centre, has won the Sustainable Communities Challenge, receiving €2million in funding.
The EU burns or buries 60 garbage truckloads of textiles every minute, while globally, less than 1% of clothes are recycled back to clothing. PUreTex takes post-consumer textiles and, through key innovations such as chemical recycling, converts these materials into useful products like polyurethane (PU) foam insulation. Through the team’s collaboration with the Rediscovery Centre, it also aims to promote behavioural change in circular textile design and encourage more sustainable textile use.
Dr Susan Kelleher, PUreTex Team Lead, Dublin City University, said:
"This funding means a great deal to us. The chance to work on a problem this important, alongside partners this strong, is a real privilege. Addressing textile waste at scale requires both rigorous fundamental research and a clear pathway to real-world impact, you cannot do one without the other. Understanding how end-of-life textiles can be broken down into high-purity, high-value building blocks is essential to developing high-performing insulation materials. Our partnership with the Rediscovery Centre, who bring expertise across circular design, policy, and industry engagement, will be central to ensuring this research creates genuine, lasting impact.”
Future Food Systems Challenge
The NanoSA team, led by Dr Niall Maloney, Atlantic Technological University with co-lead Prof. Enda McGlynn, Dublin City University and Societal Impact Champion Catherine McManus, Mowi Ireland, has won the Future Food Systems Challenge, receiving €2million in funding.
Pathogenic infections are estimated to cost the global salmon aquaculture sector between €1.2–1.7 billion per year. Identifying the cause of infection typically requires sending samples to off‑site laboratories, often located far from farm operations. This leads to significant delays in receiving results and, consequently, delays in initiating effective treatment.
The NanoSA team is developing innovative lateral flow assay technology for the rapid point of care detection of key bacterial and viral pathogens that significantly impact the aquaculture sector. This will empower fish health experts with fast, reliable information, enabling them to make informed disease management decisions on-site, which will improve animal welfare and minimise losses.
Dr Niall Maloney, NanoSA Team Lead, Atlantic Technological University, said:
“We’re thrilled to receive Prize phase funding under the Future Food Systems Challenge. This support allows us to continue developing our platform for rapid, farm‑site detection of pathogenic infections in salmon aquaculture. The training provided through the National Challenge Fund has been central in shaping our technological developments so that we’re addressing key challenges for the aquaculture industry. I’m grateful to our collaborators in DCU and to our industrial partners at Mowi—their involvement has been key to our success to date. We’re excited to continue this work and help build a more sustainable and resilient aquaculture food system.”
Dr Enda McGlynn, NanoSA Co-Lead, Dublin City University added:
“I am delighted to be able to continue our innovative partnership with ATU Galway in the Prize phase of the Research Ireland Future Food Systems National Challenge Fund, during which we will further optimise and scale our nanostructure synthesis techniques to enable transformative outcomes for the aquaculture industry.”
About the National Challenge Fund
The National Challenge Fund is a €65M research fund established under the Government of Ireland’s National Recovery and Resilience Plan (NRRP), developed by the Government so that Ireland can access funding under the EU’s Recovery and Resilience Facility.
The Recovery and Resilience Facility is the largest component of NextGenerationEU, the European Union’s response to the global pandemic. The aim is to help repair the immediate economic and social damage brought about by the pandemic and to prepare for a post-Covid Europe that is greener, more digital, more resilient, and fit to face the future.
The National Challenge Fund supports academic researchers to work with government, enterprise, public sector organisations and societal stakeholders to address national priorities for Ireland. This fund is coordinated and administered by Research Ireland. The initiative addresses key national challenges in the areas of Green Transition and Digital Transformation and consists of eight challenges (five Green and three Digital).