€3 million funding for UCD projects including solutions for endometriosis and damaged joints

25 June 2025

^{Dr Matteo Leta, Dr Camille Nadal and Dr John Greaney, three of the five UCD awardees}

Five UCD researchers will receive a total of more than €3 million in funding to support projects including tech for endometriosis sufferers and an injectable solution for cartilage repair in joints.

Minister for Further and Higher Education, Research, Innovation and Science, James Lawless TD, announced a total of €23 million Research Ireland funding through the Pathway programme, which will support early-career researchers across 11 research institutions.

The funded UCD projects are:

• Dr Edith Kubik, UCD School of Earth Sciences
  • Project: Quantifying core formation conditions with isotopic tracers
  • Funding amount: €675,042.60
  • Goal: To better understand the conditions under which the cores of Earth and Mars formed

• Dr Jing Lyu, UCD School of Medicine
  • Project: Novel hyperbranched polymers from kinetically controlled polymerization of multivinyl monomers and their application in injectable stem cell hydrogel scaffolds for cartilage repair
  • Funding amount: €673,559.60
  • Goal: To develop an injectable hydrogel scaffold that can restore damaged cartilage in joints

• (opens in a new window)Dr Camille Nadal, UCD School of Computer Science
  • Project: A Life with Endometriosis: Empowering Individuals through Technology (Tech4Endo)
  • Funding amount: €674,309.90
  • Goal: To create technology that will address endometriosis sufferers’ needs across areas including mental health, finances and relationships

• Dr John Greaney, UCD School of English, Drama and Film
  • Project: Contemporary modernisms: the reconstitution of Europe and the fate of the avant-garde (CONTMODS)
  • Funding amount: €674,663.90
  • Goal: To analyse the ways in which modernism has become a form of cultural nationalism in Europe

• Dr Matteo Leta, UCD School of Languages, Cultures and Linguistics
  • Project: Staging Otherness: The Representation of “Gypsies”, Turks, and Moors in Italian Renaissance Comedies and their European Translations (c.1500-1650)
  • Funding amount: €601,669.20
  • Goal: To examine the portrayal of “Gypsies”, Moors and Turks in Italian Renaissance comedies and their European translations, and understand the emergence of early forms of xenophobia

“Our Pathway programme equips promising researchers with the resources needed to reach the next level and help drive impactful discoveries,” said Celine Fitzgerald, Interim CEO of Research Ireland.

“These projects will contribute valuable insights into pressing global and national issues including public health policy, digital wellbeing, technological advancements, healthcare and more.”

The funding, covering a four-year period, will support researchers and provide resources to establish independent research careers. 

This investment will provide each project with additional support for a postgraduate student, who will be primarily supervised by the awardee. 

The 36 funded projects will be hosted across 11 research institutions: University College Dublin, Dublin City University, University College Cork, Trinity College Dublin, RCSI University of Medicine and Health Sciences, Tyndall National Institute, University of Galway, Dublin Institute for Advanced Studies, Maynooth University, Technological University Dublin and University of Limerick.

By: Rebecca Hastings, Digital Journalist, UCD University Relations

To contact the UCD News & Content Team, email: newsdesk@ucd.ie