RESEARCH AT MAYNOOTH UNIVERSITY

RESEARCH AT MAYNOOTH UNIVERSITY STRUCTURED PhD / RESEARCH PROGRAMMES

Supporting the Student Researcher with Professional Skills Training

All research students at Maynooth University undertake a structured research MSc/MLitt or PhD programme, each of which incorporates educational opportunities relevant to research and professional development.

Maynooth University research students develop a skillset that includes advanced research and analysis techniques, as well as a broad range of transferable skills. The Maynooth University Research Skills Development Programme draws on the expertise of the Graduate Research Academy and Research Development Office, in conjunction with faculties, departments and professional units within the University, to further support research students in acquiring the skills and experience necessary to become independent academic researchers and to develop their careers in multiple settings beyond academia. This support is offered through the provision of a number of interdisciplinary modules and workshops. Research programmes at Maynooth University balance both research-specific and professional development education to ensure our research students are prepared for a future of engaging in excellent research and excelling in a variety of challenging careers.

545 PhD Students

The interdisciplinary modules and workshops within the Research Skills Development Programme include, among others:

Communicating your Research
Considering your Future Career
Research Ethics and Research Integrity
Research Data Management
Academic Writing
Publishing in Academic Journals
Thesis Completion & Career Development
Grant Management & Compliance
Innovation & Research Commercialisation
Unconscious Bias, Diversity & Inclusion
Postgraduate Teaching & Learning

World Class Research for Important New Insights Research Institutes and Centres

Maynooth University is proud of our prowess in the Social Sciences and the Arts and Humanities, embodied in two flagship research institutes. In the Sciences and Engineering, we have major strengths across disciplines in climate research, human health, data sciences, telecommunications and ocean energy.

In addition, Maynooth University teams are partners in a number of Science Foundation Ireland national centres, including in communications (CONNECT), software (LERO and ADAPT), data analytics (INSIGHT), geosciences (iCRAG) renewable energy and sustainability (MAREI), bio-pharmaceuticals (SSPC), and advanced manufacturing (iFORM and CONFIRM) thus supporting national priorities and enterprise through our research expertise.

ICARUS The Climate Research Centre

ICARUS undertakes leading edge research in observational climate science and modelling the effects of climate change – particularly as it affects Ireland.

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Innovation Value Institute

The Innovation Value Institute utilises an open innovation consortium model to focus on digital transformation in large enterprises and SMEs.

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Maynooth University Kathleen Lonsdale Institute for Research in Human Health

The Institute contributes to solving important problems to improve human health on an individual, national and global scale. Its research draws on the unique expertise across a wide range of disciplines at Maynooth University, translates basic research into effective therapies and outcomes with the support of industry partners, clinical partners and policy makers.

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Maynooth University Hamilton Institute

A multidisciplinary research institute that builds bridges between mathematics and its applications in communications, networks, artiﬁcial intelligence and biology.

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Assisting Living & Learning Institute

The ALL (Assisting Living & Learning Institute) Institute’s globally distinctive feature is in developing the interface between the users of technologies and the broader community and societal infrastructure and systems required to make this use beneﬁcial. This interface is where some of the most exciting and empowering developments will occur in the coming decades.

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Centre For Ocean Energy Research

This Centre joins the quest to make wave energy technically and economically viable. The cohort of researchers is multidisciplinary, coming from various branches of engineering, mathematics and naval architecture.

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Maynooth University Arts and Humanities Institute

Maynooth University is respected internationally as a major centre of research and scholarship in diverse areas of the arts and humanities. The Maynooth University Arts and Humanities Institute brings together more than one hundred researchers and scholars from both the University and partner institutions to ensure that we continually build on our strengths in these traditional ﬁelds.

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Maynooth University Social Sciences Institute

National Institute For Regional & Spatial Analysis

NIRSA undertakes fundamental, applied and comparative research on spatial processes and their effects on social and economic development in Ireland, and provides high quality graduate education.

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Maynooth University Social Sciences Institute

The Maynooth University Social Sciences Institute has a remit to foster and carry out research of societal importance in all areas of the Social Sciences. It brings together more than one hundred excellent researchers from Maynooth University and external partners, and is a major international centre of excellence for research and policy in the social sciences. It incorporates the National Institute for Regional and Spatial Analysis and the National Centre for Geocomputation.

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National Centre For Geocomputation

The national leader in the ﬁeld of Geocomputation, NCG is committed to extending understanding and utilisation of the capture, analysis and modelling of spatial data.

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Research Projects

MU awarded €1.8 million to fund scientific research infrastructure

Maynooth University has been awarded almost €1.8 million under Science Foundation Ireland’s (SFI) Research Infrastructure programme to fund advanced infrastructure for strategic multi-disciplinary scientific research and innovation.

The award of €1.77m will fund high sensitivity liquid chromatography-mass spectrometry (LC-MS) that will enable detection and enumeration of biomolecules in a high-throughput and efficient manner.

This has applications in health, including research into cancer, infectious diseases and inflammatory and neurological disorders, as well as biotechnology, sustainability and chemical sciences.

Professor Sean Doyle of the Department of Biology led the successful application for the funding, along with Dr Rebecca Owens, Dr Paul Dowling and Dr James Carolan of the Biology Department and the Kathleen Lonsdale Institute for Human Health Research.

MU leads €6 million Horizon project to futureproof urban health

A new €6 million Horizon Europe research project led by Maynooth University is developing new ways of thinking and doing about the combined challenges of climate change and biodiversity loss.

Health researchers based in Ireland have been successful in securing over €36 million from 2022 and 2023 funding calls under Horizon Europe, the EU Framework Programme for Research and Innovation.

Go Green Next is a Horizon Europe project that will future proof urban health across Europe and North America. The central aim of the project is to advance research and innovation to support the development of evidence-based policy at city, national, and global levels, to accelerate our efforts to address the challenges of climate change, biodiversity and environmental degradation and human health in the urban context.

A total of 19 partners from North America, Switzerland, Norway, Spain, Austria, Netherlands, Finland, Germany, Malta, and three partners from Ireland will develop novel approaches to investigate how best cities can realise their climate-neutral ambitions.

Pilot demonstrations will be conducted across conurbations with diverse spatial, climatic and cultural characteristics in Malta, Päijät-Häme region in Finland, Klagenfurt, Austria, and Cork city in Ireland.

Almost €1.4 million of funding will support research and project coordination at Maynooth University. The interdisciplinary nature of this project brings together researchers from psychology, mathematics and statistics, law and climate science who are part of the Innovation Value Institute, the All and Hamilton Institutes, respectively.

The team at Maynooth University includes psychologists Dr Tadhg MacIntyre, Prof Andrew Coogan, Prof Malcolm MacLachlan, statisticians and biostatisticians, Dr Niamh Cahill and Prof Andrew Parnell, and from the Department of Law, Dr Oliver Bartlett and Dr Mary Dobbs.

RESEARCH AT MAYNOOTH UNIVERSITY