Post by UCD School of Agriculture and Food Science

Yesterday, Minister for Agriculture, Food and the Marine Martin Heydon TD, and Minister of State with special responsibility for Research and Development Noel Grealish TD, today announced funding of €37.5 million for 30 projects to support research across 19 institutes. Supported under the DAFM 2025 Thematic Research Call, two projects are led by investigators from the UCD School of Agriculture and Food Science; Emma Feeney €1,308,752 for the project "SWEETWISE" - Sugar and sWeetener Evaluation for Emerging Technologies With Infant food Solutions for Exposure. Professor Lorraine Brennan was awarded €1,572,560 for her project Protein-I-2 – ‘Advancing Ireland’s Sustainable Protein Transition’. Proudly, also under the DAFM 2025 Thematic Research Call, academics from the UCD School of Agriculture and Food Science were successful in 9 projects in which University College Dublin is a partnering institution. - Safer by Design (@Sinéad Flannery) - RU-MIT-LESS: Reducing Methane Emissions in Irish Beef Systems through Strategic Use of Feed Additives and Early Life Interventions (Alan Kelly) - National Children's Food Survey III (Breige McNulty) - DiReCarbon - Disturbance Resilient Forest Carbon (Brian Tobin) - Advancing Tree Improvement Research for Climate Resilient Diverse and Productive Forests for Ireland (LIFE Resilient Forests) (Brian Tobin) - C-BioStock - 3D laser scanning for detecting change in carbon stocks and biodiversity across native and commercial Irish forests (Brian Tobin) - MaPFAs: Mapping the footprint of per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances (PFAs) across Ireland (Breige McNulty) - Field2Flour Ireland: Ireland: Cultivating a Sustainable Future (Cathal McCabe.PhD) - GENMILK: A new GENeration of Irish MILK products based on optimisation of diet and GENetics in  Irish dairy cows (Fiona Lalor) Commenting on the announcement, Minister for Department of Agriculture, Food and the Marine Martin Heydon said: "This €37.5 million in awards is an investment in the future of Ireland’s agri-food, forest and bioeconomy sectors. Cutting-edge research and innovation are essential to ensuring that these sectors remain competitive, resilient and sustainable in the years ahead." "Our farmers and food producers need access to the best possible evidence, technologies and practices. This research investment will generate the insights and innovations required to meet those needs – with projects covering areas such as functional foods for healthy ageing, improving water quality response times at catchment level, fibre-based packaging for longer shelf life, new approaches to tracking and controlling TB, and a first of its kind study in Ireland testing feed additives for reduced methane over an animal’s lifetime." UCD Research UCD College of Health and Agricultural Sciences