Researchers at NUI Galway have been selected to work on two projects to develop solutions for operation challenges facing the Defence Forces.
The researchers will work with the Defence Forces to develop disruptive solutions for challengers facing the Army, Navy and Air Corps.
The AltFuel4DF project will focus on converting waste to low carbon fuel and is led by Dr Rory Monaghan of NUI Galway’s School of Engineering and the Institute of Technology Carlow
AltFuel4DF aims to develop technologies to convert waste projects, such as residues from forestry and agriculture, into sustainable low carbon fuels.
These fuels will allow the Defence Forces to rely less on imported fossil fuels as well as reduce emissions and improve energy security.
Part of the project will also include analysis into fuel use to establish the greatest need for low carbon fuel with the potential for it to be used for ships, planes, and land vehicles.
The second project, Safeguard-Bio, aims to create a device to detect multiple biological threats from one sample.
The project is led by Professor Lokesh Joshi and Dr Stephen Cunningham who are both members of the School of Natural Sciences at NUI Galway.
Safeguard-Bio is part of a result of a decade long collaboration with the Defence Forces and Aquila Bioscience, a company founded by Professor Joshi at the University in 2012.
The projects have wide reaching implications outside of the security field including use in public health and environmental monitoring for better awareness of infectious biological agents agents.
The NUI Galway projects are among 10 selected as part of the SFI-Defence Organisation Innovation Challenge.
The successful projects were announced by Minister for Further and Higher Education, Research, Innovation and Science Simon Harris T.D. and Minister for Defence and Minister for Foreign Affairs Simon Coveney TD.
“The successful projects in the SFI-Defence Organisation Challenge have huge potential and are a mark of the value our researchers place on responding to society’s needs,” Professor Jim Livesey, Vice President Research and Innovation at NUI Galway, said.
“Collaboration is a vital element of research and as a public university it is profoundly important for our excellence to be put to the test in developing solutions for those who serve on the frontline while also creating the potential for societal impact.”
The two projects together look set to enable the Defence Forces to reduce carbon emissions and bolster security against threatening biological agents, respectively.
