Foreword from the Supervisory Board

At the launch of Bernal Research day 2022, Minister Ossian Smith TD (5th from left) and SFI Director General Prof Philip Nolan (4th from right), UL President Prof Kerstin Mey (centre), UL Vice President for Research Prof Norelee Kennedy (3rd from right), Bernal Director Prof Luuk van der Wielen, (3rd from left) YES Bernal Chair Simin Arshi (extreme left) with Bernal members and members of the SDG working group.

In an ambitious Institute such as Bernal it is often only when we look back that we realise how far we have come. Looking back over the last year it is impressive what the Bernal community has achieved, and as an advisory board we congratulate the community on this achievement.

Returning to campus in a hybrid form with increasing on site presence we have witnessed resurgence in outputs across many of the Institute’s KPIs. The impressive growth in publication numbers, and specifically growth in high impact publications is a testimony to the quality of research being undertaken and executed. We see this as a critical metric to measure our journey’s progress to becoming a world class materials research Institute. It also fulfils our commitment to underpin the University’s core strategies and help build UL’s reputation as an internationally recognised research-led institution delivering excellent research with impact. The International Quality Review was an important checkpoint for us, giving us a truly independent accounting of where we stand Internationally, highlighting our strengths and achievements and identifying opportunities where we can reach higher. Importantly these opportunities were not just defined for us as an Institute but also for us in partnership with the larger University. The review was very encouraging, and we were very pleased to see the recognition of the investment that continues to be made in talent development. The successes in ERC and SFI Pathway are testimony to the significant progress being made, as is the progression of staff taking on cluster and hosted centre leadership roles. Senior leadership play an important role in mentoring and as role models, most notably Mike Zaworotko achieving the incredibly impressive 100 h-index mark. The engagement of the Institute with Industry is very positive, with high levels of transference of intellectual property. This is where Bernal can deliver both economic and follow-on societal impact. In this regard the participation of the Institute in the emerging national level plan “Shannon Scheme 2.0” presents a forum where Bernal can deliver tangible national impact, contributing solutions through materials science and engineering to tough energy and environmental challenges. Emerging from the pandemic and moving from the launch phase of Horizon Europe, Institute funding has made solid recovery and progress following the challenges of Covid and the intermediate wind down period of Horizon 2020. Bernal continues to be an important contributor in the Irish and European research ecosystem. 2021 was an important year for the Bernal hosted centre SSPC, with the centre passing its eight year International review and being recognised in the 2021 Irish Pharma Industry Awards. While we appreciate the efforts of the total Bernal team, we would like to recognise the Institute’s Leadership. Successful ascents require an experienced Sherpa, and we compliment the Director, General Manager, and leadership team for their success in driving the Institute forward keeping the strategic plan in focus and delivering such significant impacts. We would like to thank the operations team for continuing to deliver excellent support, allowing the Institute to progress in a safe world class environment.

Looking forward we are optimistic about the future of the Institute. Leadership continues to correctly focus on responding to Global and thus National challenges in Climate, Energy and Health, where it is imperative that Bernal and researchers world-wide bring solutions to the serious issues we collectively face.

Kieran Drain

Chair, Supervisory Board, Bernal Institute

PhD candidates at the Faculty of Science and Engineering: Abinaya Sankaran, Mei Li, Antony Youssef, Kim Leah Shortall, Molecular & Nano Materials Cluster, and Simin Arshi, Bio Materials Cluster

Foreword from the President of the University of Limerick

I’m delighted to present the second Report of our Bernal Institute, covering the achievements in 2021 and looking ahead to those in 2022. After the many challenges during the pandemic years 2020 and 2021, significant challenges related to climate, (regional) environment, materials scarcity and cost and security of energy, clean water and food have once more underlined that the strategic orientation of the Bernal Institute in 2018 to those was timely and urgent. Continued development of the Institute’s multidisciplinary talent pool is evidenced by the impressive increase of scientific output, but certainly also by significant growth of the group of Early Career Researchers. Bernal Institute is seen by many as an attractive multidisciplinary work environment, combing scientific excellence, application and impact. It’s diversity is a challenge but it is also the only route forward to deliver on the Institute’s mission of developing disruptive technologies related to health, energy and the environment. Attracting and retaining the diverse group of Early Career Researchers holds large promise to the Institute’s future. I am delighted to see the Bernal Institute increasingly interact with external stakeholders: through individual research projects, as member and leader of national SFI and EI Centres as well as EU programmes but also through increased industry partnerships and by participation in key national taskforces and international innovation centres in and beyond Europe. These investments in the Institute’s emerging network are critical to advance the research community, to benchmark the organisation and generate new opportunities for ambitious collaborations. It will help the Institute to develop further as an internationally recognised player in structured materials research (strategic goal 1) and provide a conducive environment for its members to reach their full potential (strategic goal 2). Those achievements were recognised by the 2021 independent, international Quality Review Group. Their comprehensive commendations were encouraging and their recommendations provided helpful insights and guidelines for the further enhancement of the Institute. The maturing and success of the Bernal Institute makes a significant contribution to UL’s research leadership regionally, nationally and globally. I welcome especially the initiatives to further link and integrate research and teaching as exemplified in the UL Sustainability Challenge, that bridges research institutes, departments, faculties and even central support units. By stimulating cross-disciplinary, cross-functional and cross-sectoral sharing and engagement, the Bernal Institute has become a lasting positive contributor to the university ecosystem. I thank the Director and the whole Bernal Team for their sustained commitment and effort and wish them every success in the challenging period ahead of us. I am certain that the staff of the Bernal Institute and its students will continue to develop much needed disruptive solutions to global challenges in health, energy and the environment.

Professor Kerstin Mey

President, University of Limerick