Cork researchers recognised at annual Irish Research Council awards

THERE was great success for Cork at the Irish Research Council’s Researcher of the Year awards this year, with a number of researchers with Cork connections receiving recognition for their work.

The annual Researcher of the Year awards recognise the very best of the Council’s funded researchers who are making significant and valuable contributions to knowledge, society, culture, or innovation.

The winners were selected by an independent expert panel, chaired by Luke Drury, Emeritus Professor at Dublin Institute for Advanced Studies.

Kanturk native, Professor Yvonne Buckley, who is a Professor of Zoology at Trinity College Dublin, was announced as the winner of the prestigious Researcher of the Year award 2021.

Her work is focused on the growth, reproduction and survival of plant and animal species. Using insights from her research, Professor Buckley develops models of plant and animal populations that help to determine the conditions that may lead to a change in their population size over time.

Other Cork winners at this year’s awards included Leap native, Michelle O’Driscoll, of University College Cork who was awarded the ‘Jane Grimson Medal of Excellence’ for being the top-ranked postgraduate researcher in the STEM category.

The objective of Ms O’Driscoll’s research is to tackle antimicrobial resistance by interfering with bacterial communication.

Also recognised was Dr Susan Bullman of the Fred Hutchinson Cancer Research Centre in Seattle, who is originally from Ballinlough.

She was highly commended in the Early Career Researcher of the Year award category for her work on studying the link between microbes and cancer.

Director of the Irish Research Council, Peter Brown, congratulated this year’s winners stating that they should be “immensely proud” of their achievements.

“The Irish Research Council is equally proud to have supported the development of the work of these researchers through our funding.

“This year’s winners demonstrate how research helps society answer some of the big questions of our time and can make a significant and lasting impact,” he said.