Shining a Spotlight on Excellence: TU Dublin Research and Innovation Awards 2025 Now Open for Entries
TU Dublin is delighted to announce the opening of submissions for the 2025 TU Dublin Research and Innovation Awards, now proudly in their third year. These prestigious awards celebrate creative innovation, bold ideas, groundbreaking discoveries, and collaborative research efforts driving positive change across society.
Supported by the Vice President for Research and Innovation, Dr Brendan Jennings, the awards honour outstanding contributions from staff across all disciplines, showcasing the creativity and commitment that define TU Dublin’s vibrant research and innovation ecosystem. All nominees will be celebrated, with winners revealed at a special ceremony on Monday, 3rd November 2025.
This year’s awards span nine diverse categories:
- Early-Career Researcher Award
- Established Researcher Career Award
- Excellence in Provision of Support to Researchers
- Excellence in Research Supervision Award
- Multidisciplinary Research Team Award
- Community Engaged Research Award
- Sustainability Research Award
- Innovation Impact Award
- One to Watch Award
New for 2025, we are excited to launch the Research Impact Case Study Competition. Open to all researchers, this initiative highlights the tangible impact of TU Dublin’s work across its five research priority areas, with one prize awarded per area.
Dr Brendan Jennings, Vice President for Research and Innovation remarked:
Our research and innovation community continues to inspire through its commitment to excellence and its drive to make a meaningful difference. These awards and the new impact case study competition provide a valuable opportunity to celebrate the talent, energy, and ambition of our researchers, and to showcase the significant societal benefits of their work. I strongly encourage all colleagues to participate by nominating deserving peers or submitting their own work.
To explore the award categories, learn about eligibility, and submit nominations or case studies, please visit the TU Dublin Research and Innovation Awards 2025 page here.
Last year’s awards highlighted an exceptional group of individuals and teams whose work exemplifies the power and potential of research and innovation to create impact. The following were announced as the overall winners in 2024:
- Early Career Researcher: Dr Ciara Ahern, for her leadership in sustainable building research and the founding of the Irish Building Stock Observatory.
- Established Career Researcher: Professor Hugh J Byrne, for his outstanding multidisciplinary research bridging physical and life sciences.
- Excellence in Provision of Support to Researchers: Dr George Amarandei, for his hands-on mentorship and growth of the GAP research group.
- Excellence in Research Supervision: Dr Steven Davy, for his exemplary mentorship and student-focused supervision.
- Research Engagement: Professor Fiona Lyng, for pioneering work in cancer diagnostics through clinical collaboration.
- Multidisciplinary Research Team: Human Factors in Safety and Sustainability Research Group, led by Dr Maria Chiara Leva, for their cross-sectoral safety and risk research.
- Innovation Impact: Dr Furong Tian, for creating commercial diagnostic solutions in healthcare using nanotechnology.
- One to Watch: Dr Matthew Sheehan, for his innovative iTremor device with potential clinical and commercial impact.
- Research in Climate Action: Dr Michelle Giltrap, for her environmental research in marine policy and pollution reduction.
- Research Sustainability in Education: Emma Geoghegan, for transforming architecture education through climate-focused curricula and policy influence.
With such a strong foundation of excellence, we’re excited to see how this year’s awards will continue to spotlight the incredible impact of our research community.