Seven brilliant researchers based in Ireland have been awarded prestigious European Research Council (ERC) Starting Grants, securing a total of €10.5m in funding. This places them among 478 early-career researchers across Europe to share a €761m investment aimed at launching their own pioneering projects and building their research teams.
Each grant, worth €1.5m over five years, is a powerful catalyst for scientific discovery and is estimated to create around 3,000 new jobs in research teams across the continent. As ERC president Prof Maria Leptin noted, this funding empowers Europe's brightest minds, though she highlighted that with only 12pc of excellent proposals being funded, greater investment is needed for Europe to reach its full scientific potential.
Unraveling the Past to Secure the Future
University College Dublin (UCD) emerged as a leading institution with four awardees. Dr. Kevin Daly's Herdpath project uses ancient DNA from sheep and goat remains to trace the co-evolution of livestock and infectious diseases. This research could revolutionize modern farming by identifying genetic targets for breeding disease-resistant animals.
Also from UCD, Dr. Lara Cassidy's Lifetimes project builds on ancient DNA analysis to tell the story of three medieval Irish communities across nearly a millennium. By tracking these communities through centuries of change, her work will provide unprecedented insights into marriage systems, inheritance, population health, and even identify pathogens behind infamous medieval epidemics.
Exploring the Human Mind and Society
Several researchers are tackling profound questions about human psychology and social structures. Dr. Gillian Murphy of University College Cork challenges conventional wisdom with her Frame project, investigating whether false memories might serve an adaptive purpose—potentially improving wellbeing or strengthening social cohesion rather than simply representing flaws in our recollection.
Dr. Paul Maher from the University of Limerick addresses one of today's most pressing issues with his Identity-Error project, which explores the psychological mechanisms driving worldview polarization. His research aims to develop a new framework for understanding how groups develop fundamentally incompatible views of reality itself.
Innovations in Health and Technology
Dr. Mary O'Keeffe's PainSupportLink project at UCD addresses health inequities in chronic pain management. Her research focuses on how long-term musculoskeletal pain affects people differently based on socio-economic circumstances, with the goal of building personalized supports and scalable models of equitable care.
Meanwhile, Dr. Graham Benham's SurfsUp project investigates wave-driven propulsion—how creatures like water snakes propel themselves by generating surface waves. This research could unlock new technologies for sustainable transport, environmental clean-up, and smart farming.
Understanding Criminal Organizations in Democracies
Dr. Lucía Tiscornia brings a fresh perspective to security studies with her CRIMLATAM project, examining how criminal organizations like gangs, mafias, and drug cartels thrive in democratic societies with strong social welfare systems. Focusing on Argentina, Chile, and Costa Rica, her research aims to demonstrate that governments can make choices that reduce the societal impact of these organizations.
For all recipients, the ERC grant represents not just funding but validation of their innovative approaches. As Dr. Daly expressed, it enables "the stuff of dreams"—building enthusiastic teams, engaging in discipline-spanning questions, and collaborating internationally to address some of society's most complex challenges.
