The Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) this week announced €6.9 million in taxpayer-funded research grants for 11 new climate and environmental projects.
The funding, which was confirmed in a press release this week, will support 98 staff and students across 27 institutions. According to the EPA, the money will go towards building “research capacity and skills” in areas deemed relevant to addressing environmental challenges.
“The increased scale of research funding being announced by the EPA in 2025 reflects the critical role that research and innovation play,” said Dr. Eimear Cotter, Director of the EPA’s Office of Evidence and Assessment.
“This new EPA funding will help develop innovative solutions to support Ireland’s response to these challenges.”
Among the successful grant recipients is a Dublin City University project examining “Adolescents’ Climate Change Attitudes, Knowledge and Actions.” That project alone has been awarded €654,209.
Other research projects being funded include:
– €630,932 for an “interdisciplinary ecosystem for citizen science” led by DCU
– €657,464 to the University of Galway for a project on “community transformations”
– €519,880 for Maynooth University to estimate population exposure to sea level rise
– €643,501 to Mary Immaculate College to study offshore island environments
A Trinity College Dublin study titled “Noise 2050” received €579,886 to examine noise pollution impacts, while another project at the same university was granted €659,861 to investigate “porous graphene materials” for carbon capture.
The research programme is part of the EPA’s 2030 Research Strategy and is funded by the Department of Climate, Energy and the Environment. It aims to support implementation of various Government policies, including the Climate Action Plan, the Circular Economy Action Plan, and the National Biodiversity Action Plan.
According to the EPA, a total of €21.4 million in research funding has been committed so far in 2025. This year’s EPA Research Call received 130 eligible applications, with 36 projects being funded in two rounds. Nearly 300 staff are set to be involved, with 127 directly funded through the programme.
The 2024 Research Call targeted themes such as behavioural science for climate action, circular economy, sustainable land use planning, and health impacts from environmental change.
The EPA has been running research programmes since 1994 and is currently funding more than 200 projects across Ireland.