ESAI Postgraduate Researcher of the Year 2024 was launched at Environ 2024, SETU Waterford.
Competition is now closed. Watch this space 2024 winner to be announced soon!
Please note:
Applicants must be an ESAI member, registered as a student at an Irish HEI or working in partnership with an Irish research organisation. The applicant must be within six months after graduation or still be a registered student. Applicant must be an ESAI member.
ESAI are delighted to announce Adrienn Szucs from Trinity College Dublin is the winner of the prestigious ESAI Postgraduate Researcher of the Year Award 2023. Adrienn’s research was titled “Advancing Rare Earth Element Science: Mimicking Nature for Sustainable Solutions and a Greener Tomorrow”. Rare earth elements (REEs) serve as critical components in renewable technologies and electronic devices, essential for maintaining our quality of life. This research explored mimicking natural processes rather than focusing solely on natural resources to meet the growing demand for REEs. This research was supervised by Dr Juan Diego Rodriguez-Blanco, TCD. Read more about Adrienn’s research here.
This year the ESAI has decided to acknowledge the extremely high standard of competition by acknowledging a second researcher who was of exceptional standard but just missed out on the overall prize.
Postgraduate Researcher of the Year 2023 Highly Commended: Sarpong Hammond Antwi a researcher who was based in Dundalk Institute of Technology (DKIT) with their supervisor Dr. Suzanne Linanne. This project focused on Water Governance and Management Practices in the Republic Of Ireland: Past, Present and the Future by identifying the factors that have driven policy reforms and making recommendations towards a sustainable water future. The ESAI determined that this research was of extremely high scientific merit and worth a special mention. Read more here.
Congrats to both researchers. The ESAI will be featuring their research on our upcoming newsletter and website in the coming weeks.
The winner will receive the prize of €500 and their certificate will be presented at the opening ceremony of Environ 2024. They will also be invited to give a guest lecture at the subsequent ESAI AGM which takes place at the ENVIRON 2024.
Applications were evaluated under three criteria: Scientific excellence and originality, Impact (economic/environmental/societal) and Dissemination (conferences, outreach, media). Candidates were asked to outline research objectives, background to research, why research is necessary and novel, environmental relevance, methods, results, accomplishments, awards, publications/patents, the potential impact of the research (economic/environmental/societal), and outline the dissemination activities related to the project.
Listen back to previous winner Philip Shine talking about the how applying and winning the award benefited his research
2022 Winner: Larissa Macedo Cruz de Oliveira, UCC who's sesearch thesis focuses advancing seabed mapping techniques for deep-water habitat classification in submarine canyons and cold-water coral habitats (ASMAT)
2022 Highly Commended:Elena Zioga ,TCD whose resaerch focused on characterising pesticide residues in floral resources for bees.
2021 Winner: Irene O’Callaghan, UCC whos research thesis focuses on the development of a novel technique to improve the detection and quantification of emerging contaminants within the freshwater environment.
2021 Highly Commended: Katherine Burns, UCD for her research project
looking at the contributions and conservation of Irish Pollinators in Ireland.
2020 Winner: Sean O’Connor, Institute of Technology Sligo
PhD thesis entitled “Meeting Ireland's Sustainability Challenges and Obligations - The role of small-scale waste/energy management as sustainable solutions in the
circular economy.”
2020 Highly Commended: Kate Mahony, University College Cork
PhD thesis entitled “A temporal investigation of Europe-wide drivers of cockle Cerastoderma edule biology, health and population dynamics.”
2020 Highly Commended: Samuel Ross, Trinity College Dublin
PhD thesis entitled “Understanding the consequences of global environmental change for ecological dynamics and resilience.”
2019: Molly-Ann Williams, Dublin City University
PhD thesis entitled “Development of a Novel Biosensor for the Detection of Specific Species using Enviornmental DNA”
2018: Conall Holohan, National University of Ireland, Galway
PhD thesis entitled “The Anaerobic Digestion of Fats: exploring microbial technological solutions”
2017: Philip Shine, Cork Institute of Technology
PhD thesis entitled “Electricity and direct water consumption on Irish dairy farms”
2016: Christopher Finnegan, Institute of Technology Carlow
PhD thesis entitled “Detection and bioremediation of tributyltin in several environmental matrices such as sediments, soils, water and biological samples”
2015: Luke J. Prendergast, University College Dublin
PhD thesis entitled “Monitoring of scour around structures using changes in natural frequency of vibration”
2014: Richard Manton, NUI Galway
PhD thesis entitled “Route Selection and Design of Greenways: Guidance for the Irish National Cycle Network”
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