TU Dublin Welcomes Three International Marie Skłodowska-Curie Postdoctoral Fellows
Three distinguished international researchers will join TU Dublin as part of the prestigious Marie Skłodowska-Curie Actions (MSCA) Horizon Europe Postdoctoral Fellowships. Under the guidance of Dr Michelle Giltrap, Dr Paul Hynds, and Dr PJ Wall, these fellows will engage in pioneering research across Chemistry, Social Sciences and Humanities, and Environmental and Geosciences. The fully funded fellowships aim to promote scientific excellence and strengthen global collaboration, bringing top-tier researchers from Australia, the USA, and the UK to TU Dublin. This initiative not only enhances the university's research ecosystem but also fosters innovation through diverse perspectives and interdisciplinary approaches.
Sustainable Biorefinery of Fish Processing By-Products
Under the supervision of Dr Michelle Giltrap; Lecturer in the School of Food Science and Environmental Health, Dr Trung Nguyen from Australia, will spearhead research on developing a sustainable biorefinery process for fish processing by-products (FPBs). Europe generates over 55 million tons of FPBs annually, much of which is landfilled, incurring millions in treatment costs and contributing to environmental pollution. Dr Nguyen’s project aims to transform these underutilised by-products into valuable nutrients and bioactive compounds for food and nutraceuticals. By integrating advanced technologies such as microwave, ultrasound, and supercritical CO2 with innovative solvents, the project seeks to improve extraction efficiency, lower production costs, and contribute to a circular blue bioeconomy. This research addresses global challenges of fish stock depletion, environmental sustainability, and food security by ensuring a more efficient and sustainable production system.
Exploring AI Ethics in Global Development
Supervised by Dr P.J. Wall; Faculty of Business Head of Research & Innovation and Lecturer in the School of Business Technology Retail and Supply Chain, Dr Elizabeth Resor from the United States will explore the ethical dimensions of Artificial Intelligence (AI) in global development. The project will examine ethical challenges through a case study of the AI Cookstoves Project, a collaboration between TU Dublin's ADAPT Centre and Makerere University in Uganda. The initiative uses AI-generated design solutions to enhance the efficiency of woodburning cookstoves, which are commonly used in developing countries. Dr Resor will assess the trade-offs between energy savings and the environmental impact of running AI models, while investigating how AI influences knowledge hierarchies and power dynamics among stakeholders. This research aims to support inclusive economic growth and reduce inequality by informing policymakers with real-world insights into AI ethics frameworks.
Assessing Dengue Risk in Tanzania
Dr Paul Hynds; Research Support Services Pre-Award Lead and Principal Investigator in the Sustainability and Health Research Hub, will oversee the TRACED project lead by Dr Matthew Watts from the United Kingdom. This project investigates how global changes, such as rising temperatures, urbanisation, and increased transportation, influence dengue transmission risk in Tanzania. Dengue outbreaks have become more frequent in East Africa, yet knowledge gaps remain regarding ecological and population dynamics that contribute to transmission. By integrating innovative methodologies, the TRACED project will provide critical insights into vector-borne disease patterns and inform public health interventions. The research supports Sustainable Development Goal 3.3, promoting healthy lives and well-being for all, and contributes to global efforts to mitigate future dengue outbreaks.
These prestigious fellowships underscore TU Dublin's role as a leader in cutting-edge research that addresses some of the world’s most pressing challenges. By attracting top international talent and fostering interdisciplinary collaboration, TU Dublin is advancing sustainable technologies, ethical AI, and global health solutions. Through the Marie Skłodowska-Curie Postdoctoral Fellowships, Drs Giltrap, Hynds, and Wall are enabling research with the potential for significant and lasting societal impact.
For more information, please visit TU Dublin Research & Innovation.
TU Dublin & MSCA Postdoctoral Fellowships Full Outline
Project Title
‘Advanced biorefinery of fish processing by-products for sustainable production of foods and nutraceuticals’
Project Overview
While global fish depletion, environmental pollution, and food security are challenging modern society, a massive quantity of fish processing by-products (FPBs) yearly produced in Europe is underutilised, with about 55.2 million tons of these annually landfilled as Category-3 waste. This not only costs €179 per ton for waste treatment and contributes to environmental pollution but also wastes marine bioresources because FPBs enrich proteins, collagen, chitin, lipids, omega-3 fatty acids, calcium, and biominerals with commercial applications in foods and nutraceuticals. Efficiently utilising these FPBs for value-added products would mitigate the above pressing challenges and minimise processing costs. Apart from that, it produces more food and bioproducts for the increasing population towards sustainable production for a circular blue bioeconomy. However, the conventional recovery of nutrients from FPBs is still challenging due to low extraction efficiency, the complexity of the multi-step process, and high production costs. This project aims to develop an advanced process for multi-product biorefinery of FPBs to efficiently and sustainably produce functional ingredients, food nutrients, and bioactive compounds for foods and nutraceuticals by integrating different technologies with synergistic effects. Advances of intensifying technologies such as microwave, ultrasound, and supercritical CO2 combined with novel and designable solvents could solve several weaknesses of the conventional processes.
Project Title
‘Exploring the Ethics of AI for Global Development’
Project Overview
Artificial Intelligence (AI) offers a new way to approach the seemingly intractable challenges of Global Development, mobilising unprecedented amounts of data and generating insights from previously unused sources (e.g. big data, mobile phone records). Unlike traditional development projects, AI systems can scale rapidly while requiring very little on-the-ground implementation. However, the ethical implications of incorporating AI into Global Development are not well-defined. Therefore, this project seeks to collect empirical data about the ethical questions that arise when AI is part of a development project. It will involve a case study of the AI Cookstoves Project, an on-going collaboration between the ADAPT Centre in TU Dublin, Ireland and Makerere University in Uganda. The AI Cookstoves Project takes a familiar problem - the use of woodburning cookstoves – and approaches it with a combination of engineering, community input, and AI-generated design suggestions. In doing so, it raises ethical questions about development and AI, including whether the goal of energy efficiency for the stoves is outweighed by the energy costs of running a generative AI model, and how the inclusion of AI models affects the knowledge hierarchy among stakeholders with different kinds of knowledge. At the same time, the researcher will seek to understand how AI and Global Development experts conceive of the potential for AI in development through in-depth interviews of experts and participant observation at public presentations and working group discussions about AI, ethics, and global development, in Ireland and Uganda. This work brings a distinctly global lens to the question of AI ethics. In this way, it aims to speak to the Sustainable Development Goals for inclusive economic growth (#8) and reduced inequality (#10). It also seeks to provide policymakers with a new approach to AI ethics that is grounded in actual examples of AI in practice.
Project Title
‘Exploring the Impacts of Global Change on the Risk of Aedes and Dengue Expansion in Tanzania (TRACED)’
Project Overview
Dengue, a vector-borne disease transmitted by Aedes mosquitoes, has emerged as a significant global health challenge, particularly in regions like East Africa, where its impact is increasingly felt. Tanzania, with recurrent outbreaks and an expanding range of mosquito vectors, offers a critical case study for understanding dengue's broader epidemiological trends in these regions. The spread of Aedes aegypti, driven by global changes such as rising temperatures, urbanisation, and increased transportation networks, has intensified the threat of dengue in Tanzania. Despite this, substantial knowledge gaps remain, particularly in predicting future hotspots for transmission and understanding the extent of the population at risk, now and in the future. The TRACED project aims to address these gaps by integrating innovative methodologies to assess ecological niches, human population dynamics, and dengue transmission risk. The project's outcomes are expected to support global efforts to achieve Sustainable Development Goal (SDG) 3.3, which focuses on ensuring healthy lives and promoting well-being for all, by raising awareness among policymakers, which is crucial for effective intervention strategies. Given the limited research and funding in this area, particularly in Africa, this project will provide critical insights and methodological frameworks that can be applied across resource-limited regions, contributing to better preparedness and response to future dengue outbreaks.