Notable achievements

Notable Professor Mike Zaworotko achievements

Professor Daniel Granato

Professor Mike Zaworotko, Bernal Chair of Crystal Engineering, achieved an h-index of 100 on

Google Scholar, a phenomenal accomplishment by any researcher. Professor Zaworotko’s career has taken him across the globe, building significant research groups and mentoring others in both North America and Ireland, as well as establishing strong collaborations in China and elsewhere. In addition to the h-index achievement, his research publications surpassed 50,000 citations during June 2021. He

has been listed by Silicon Republic as one of the 12 people changing the world of life sciences. Professor Daniel Granato was listed on the 2021 Clarivate top 1000 most highly cited researchers

globally, which is an outstanding achievement. The Highly Cited Researchers™ list identifies global research scientists and social scientists who have demonstrated exceptional influence, as reflected through their publication of multiple papers frequently cited by their peers during the last decade. In April 2022, Professor Luuk van der Wielen,

Director of the Bernal Institute, was appointed to a national level taskforce for sustainable development of the Shannon Estuary and Mid-

West of Ireland. The Shannon Estuary Economic Taskforce will assess the strategic strengths and comparative advantages of the Shannon Estuary and scope out potential economic opportunities for the area. The group will produce a report, specifying the actions that can be taken to create jobs and secure investment along the estuary and in its vicinity. It will report by the end of November 2022. In terms of SFI individual funding, 2021/22 has been a very successful year for Bernal Researchers and some of our early-career PIs in particular.

This success includes the following awards: SFI Frontiers (4), SFI Infrastructures (3), SFI Career Pathways (5) and SFI Industry RD&I (3).

Congratulations to: Uschi Bangert, Christophe Silien, George Barreto, Vivek Ranade, Maurice Collins, Kevin M Ryan, Luis Padrela, Jennifer Cookman, David Madden, David McNulty, Soumya Mukherjee, Valeria Nico, Nanasaheb Thorat, Ibraham Amiinu, Meichandran Balasubramaniam and Ahmad Ziaee. Combined, these awards represent over €6M in research funding.

Mariana Hugo Silva, a Marie Skłodowska-Curie PhD Student, was among the 611 young scientists from 91 countries invited to the 71st Lindau

Nobel Laureate Meeting in June 2022. Due to the pandemic, many of these young scientists had to wait more than two years for the forum, including

Marie Curie Fellow, Dr Ibrahim Saana Aminu.

Mariana is working with Dr Sarah Hudson’s team on an SFI-funded project to develop long-acting drug formulations that achieve extended-release dosage to fight diseases. Ibrahim is working with Professor Kevin M Ryan on a Horizon 2020 (H2020) Marie Curie project to develop advanced rechargeable aluminium-ion batteries, using all low-cost and sustainable components.

The Bernal Institute Biolabs were the first labs at UL to be certified by My Green Lab® as part of the

Green Lab Certification programme, considered the international gold standard in lab sustainability. The university is committed to the development and implementation of a holistic approach to sustainable development. In line with this, the Biolabs have evaluated opportunities for energy and water savings, as well as chemical and waste reduction. Championed by a coalition of scientists, facility managers and a safety professional, Bernal BioLabs members are pursuing sustainability through the adoption of ‘Green Labs’ practices. In July 2021,

the team were awarded the Platinum level ‘Green’ certificate, with the second highest score ever

achieved in the programme. They have joined a network of hundreds of certified Green Labs all over the world.

Dr Valeria Nico Dr David McNulty Janelle Stanton and Adrian Hannon

Dr Alison O’Connor Dr Ibrahim Saana Aminu

The Institute is hosting five new Marie

Skłodowska-Curie Fellowships in 2022. Dr Alison O’Connor is working with Professor Noel O’Dowd to research how the operational lifetime of critical infrastructure can be improved through artificial intelligence. Dr Julia Alvarez-Malmagro is working with Professors Edmond Magner and Vivek Ranade to develop new ways for the continuous production of pharmaceutical materials via targeted and selective immobilisation of biocatalysts (using electrochemical approaches) in modular 3D-printed flow reactors. Dr William Cheuquepan Valenzuela will join Dr Micheál Scanlon to develop a novel, disruptive and sustainable approach to photoelectrocatalytic carbon dioxide (CO2) reduction. The aim is to achieve an unprecedented control of the degree of CO2 photoreduction to high-value hydrocarbons in a biphasic system. These three researchers are funded as part of the Marie Skłodowska-Curie Actions Individual Fellowships programme. Additionally, Dr Aisling Ross and Dr Joseph Mooney were awarded the highly prestigious Marie Skłodowska-Curie Postdoctoral Fellowship. Dr Ross will spend two years of her fellowship at the Walter and Eliza Hall Institute of Medical Research, University of Melbourne, working on the contribution of the Epstein-Barr virus and the tumour microenvironment to anti-apoptotic mechanisms in diffuse large B-cell lymphoma. Dr Mooney will research passive, carbon-neutral, clean-water technologies for tackling the ever-increasing global water crisis. He will work for two years with Professor Evelyn N Wang at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology.

Dr Maurice N Collins and Dr Matthias Vandichel were each elected Fellow of the Royal Society of

Chemistry (FRSC). This is a very prestigious award, based on an outstanding contribution to science over five years of distinguished leadership.

Dr Aileen Bowen Perez Dr Gearóid Clancy

Bernal PhD researcher, Aileen Bowen Perez, won the 2021 Lockheed Martin Student Paper Award in Structures at the American Institute of Aeronautics

and Astronautics SciTech Forum, the world’s largest event for aerospace research, development and technology. Aileen’s co-authors on the paper, ‘Folding of Flexible Hinges for Aircraft Wingtips and Wind Turbine Blades’, were Dr Giovanni Zucco and Professor Paul Weaver.

Eight Bernal PIs were nominated for the Teaching

Hero Awards, which are Ireland’s only national, student-led awards for those who are teaching in higher education. They provide an opportunity for students across the country to recognise and celebrate outstanding teaching in higher education institutions. The Bernal nominees were: Dr Andreas Grabrucker, Dr David Tanner, Dr Hugh Geaney, Dr Robert Lynch, Dr Sarah Hudson, Dr Shalini Singh, Dr Teresa Curtin and Dr Walter Stanley. In addition,

Dr Shalini Singh was the winner of the university’s

Teaching Excellence Award (individual), which recognises outstanding contributions to teaching and student learning.

Gearóid Clancy won the JEC Composites Challenge

2021 during the JEC Composites Connect Event in June 2021. Composites Challenge is a competition between PhD students, sourced and selected for their research in the field of composites. His presentation focused on a process that he designed and tested, which can change the width (spread) of carbon fibre prepreg tapes as they are laid into position, thus eliminating a major problem with manufacturing complex components such as aircraft noses and engine casings. This novel manufacturing method will enable the production of components that are more structurally efficient (i.e. lighter but not weaker), leading to a reduction in carbon emissions and increasing the distance an aircraft can fly without refuelling.