Postgraduate Researcher of the Year Award

The 'ESAI Postgraduate Researcher of the Year Award' for ESAI members started in 2013 and welcomes applications from students doing either a PhD or a Masters degree by research in an environmental topic.

Congratulations to Molly-Ann Williams from the School of Biotechnology in Dublin City University (DCU) who has been awarded the 2019 ESAI Postgraduate Researcher of the Year by the Environmental Sciences Association of Ireland. Molly-Ann will be joining previous winner Philip Shine for an ESAI Postgraduate of the Year Webinar ‘What It Takes To Excel in Research’ at 11.00-12.00, 16^th July. If you’d like to join in you can register here.

This years competition will be launched on April 29^th 2020 and the winning entrant who will receive a prize of €500. They will also be invited to give a guest lecture at the subsequent ESAI AGM which takes place at the ENVIRON conference each year.

Each application will be evaluated under three criteria:

• Scientific excellence and originality
• Impact (economic/environmental/societal)
• Dissemination (conferences, outreach, media)

Candidates will be asked to outline research objectives, background to research, why research is necessary and novel, environmental relevance, methods, results, accomplishments, awards, publications/patents, the potential impact of the research (economic/environmental/societal), and outline the dissemination activities related to the project.

Applicants should Email a completed Application Form by the extended deadline Sept 30^th 2020.

Previous Winners

2019: Molly-Ann Williams, Dublin City University

PhD entitled “Development of a Novel Biosensor for the Detection of Specific Species using Enviornmental DNA”    

2018: Conall Holohan, National University of Ireland, Galway

PhD entitled “The Anaerobic Digestion of Fats: exploring microbial technological solutions”    

2017: Philip Shine, Cork Institute of Technology

PhD entitled “Electricity and direct water consumption on Irish dairy farms”                                   

2016: Christopher Finnegan, Institute of Technology Carlow

PhD entitled “Detection and bioremediation of tributyltin in several environmental matrices such as sediments, soils, water and biological samples”

2015: Luke J. Prendergast, University College Dublin (UCD)

PhD thesis entitled “Monitoring of scour around structures using changes in natural frequency of vibration”

2014: Richard Manton, NUI Galway

PhD thesis entitled “Route Selection and Design of Greenways: Guidance for the Irish National Cycle Network”