Letterkenny Institute of Technology has been awarded €2.7 million of a total €9.7 million research fund for its role in a new cross-border research centre for renewable energy projects.
The Bryden Centre for Advanced Marine and Bio-Energy Research will recruit 34 PhD students across the marine and bio-energy disciplines and will be based at LYIT, Queen’s University Belfast, Ulster University and the University of Highlands and Islands in western Scotland.
LYIT will act as a lead institution for 7 PhD candidates and will co-supervise many more. The project currently involves staff from three schools in the Institute, Business, Science and Engineering and is truly multidisciplinary in nature.
The Institute will benefit from €2.7m worth of funding to cover studentships, PDRA’s, an administrative post to support the project and equipment, and is an opportunity to build further research capacity across the Institute at Level 10.
Speaking at the launch of the Bryden project in Belfast, Irish Government Chief Whip and Minister of State, Joe Mc Hugh TD, said: “The Irish Government is delighted to be co-funding this exciting project which will help advance valuable research into various renewable energy technologies.
“I am particularly pleased that this project brings together expertise from colleges and other partners in Northern Ireland, Ireland and Western Scotland.
“The results of such broad-ranging co-operation and utilisation of high-level skills will bring shared benefits to all three administrations, as it drives the pursuit of renewable energy research to a new level.
“We all share the ambition that practical benefits for sustainable future energy development will flow from this project.
“This collaboration will see LYIT, among many other things, examine the potential for wave and tidal power generation in Donegal.”
Minister McHugh also met the first student recruited to the Bryden Centre.
LYIT, in conjunction with QUB, registered the first student to the Bryden Centre programme. Nuala Carr, a Donegal native accepted a Bryden Centre studentship and registered as a QUB PhD student on the 1st November 2017.
Nuala is a student of QUB’s School of Built Environment, Planning and Architecture and is based at the Bryden Centre, CoLab, LYIT. She is co-supervised by Dr Wesley Flannery, QUB and Dr’s John Doran and Simon Stephens, LYIT.
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