GSI co-funding excellent geoscience research in partnership with SFI and EPA
As part of a €40m investment in research, Science Foundation Ireland, along with partner funding agencies, have announced the successful applicants for the 2015 Investigators Programme.

Professor Mark Ferguson, Director General of Science Foundation Ireland and Chief Scientific Adviser to the Government of Ireland stated, “The Science Foundation Ireland Investigators Programme supports the highest standard of impactful research…. we have funded only those projects deemed to be at the pinnacle of scientific excellence. As well as providing an important platform for engagement in Horizon 2020. The programme also creates training and employment opportunities, promotes industrial collaboration and drives advances in energy, agriculture, science, technology and health which will benefit Ireland’s economy and society.”

This year for the first time the Geological Survey of Ireland is a co-funding partner within the programme and will support excellent, geoscience focused research. The 2015 successful applicants include Dr David Chew (TCD), who will receive almost €650,000 in funding from a new SFI-GSI-EPA partnership.

Attending the official launch of the award Dr Chew acknowledged the funding and support received from the national funding agencies. “We’re lucky in Ireland to have this kind of support. Not just financially but also the recognition that a better understanding our Earth and its processes is essential if we are to improve the long term management of our natural resources. Hopefully this project will help to show how continued investment in the geosciences can positively impact many aspects of our lives.”

The project, Developing geochronology by LA-ICPMS imaging: applications of U-Pb calcite dating in raw materials research, will run over 5 years and will employ a post-doctoral researcher and a PhD student. The work will improve on present approaches to U-Pb dating of calcite, which suffer from large age uncertainties due to low U concentrations and/or high amounts of initial Pb incorporated in the calcite lattice. Dr Chew’s work will generate U/Pb image maps that facilitate identification of high and low U/Pb portions of the rastered area, which can be sub-sampled to yield a sufficient spread on isochrons to yield U-Pb calcite age uncertainties as low as ±1%. Isotopic dating of calcite has important industrial applications (e.g. in the minerals industry) and also permits dating of carbonate rocks from key time periods in the ancient geological record, before the appearance of hard-bodied fossils.

Koen Verbruggen (GSI Director) added “These awards have provided the GSI, as part of the Department for Communications, Climate Action and Environment, with an additional opportunity to fund excellent research in the geosciences. Co-funding with SFI and the EPA is a new departure for us, but one we hope to continue into the future. Importantly, Dr Chew’s project will contribute to our knowledge and understanding of Earth systems, but will also help showcase some of the outstanding talent in Ireland’s geoscience research community.”

For more information:

http://www.tcd.ie/Geology/staff/chewd/

http://www.sfi.ie/news-resources/press-releases/minister-mitchell-o’connor-announces-research-investment-of-€40-million.html

For more information on the 2016 SFI IvP call (deadline for pre-registration is Sept 30th 2016), please go to http://www.sfi.ie/funding/funding-calls/open-calls/science-foundation-ireland-investigators-programme-2016.html