Tipperary researchers rewarded with inaugural research awards

Using artificial intelligence to improve brain tumour identification is just one of ten research projects to benefit from a €1.3m investment by Lero, the Science Foundation Ireland Research Centre for Software, based at University of Limerick.

Nenagh woman and University of Galway researcher, Lero’s Dr Lorraine Morgan plans to use the award to examine the role social media plays among individuals who have experienced adversity such as grief, illness, trauma, hardship and other personal traumas.

“The research will help us to understand coping mechanisms and support-seeking behaviours by studying how individuals contending with personal tragedies or other forms of adversity use social media for coping purposes. In this way, the research will contribute to understanding the role of digital technology in facilitating coping strategies and promoting resilience," she said.

“We will examine people’s privacy perceptions, disclosure preferences and management strategies in online environments and analyse communication tools and features enabling individuals to interact and communicate remotely. This will provide valuable insights for policymakers, platform designers, and other stakeholders involved in developing and managing social media platforms,” she added.

Dr Adam Toth, who lives in Ballina, County Tipperary and is a researcher with the Lero Esports Science Research Lab at University of Limerick has also received one of the awards.

"Emerging research has shown that neurostimulation of the brain can enhance human perception and performance across a number of domains, including sport, music, and in aging populations. However, little is understood about how differences between individuals affects the magnitude of the benefit that neurostimulation can provide. This award will contribute to research to better understand how to tailor neurostimulation to best benefit human performance," he explained.

Announcing the research awards, Lero director Professor Lionel Briand said the array of research topics selected for support shows how software is integral to every aspect of the world we inhabit.

“Lero is a world leader in software research. The centre fulfils a vital role in sustaining and developing Ireland’s reputation as a global hub of software research excellence and in maintaining Ireland’s position as a home for some of the world’s top technology companies. As well as attracting additional researchers, the Lero Research Awards incentivise and reward continued impactful and outstanding research among our membership nationwide," he said.

“Today, we are presenting 10 exceptional Lero researchers across Ireland with awards, which will allow them to hire postdoctoral researchers for two years to take on some really important work. These excellent postdoctoral researchers will join the Lero family to develop better and smarter ways of overcoming many of the obstacles we face today to foster job creation, innovation and competitiveness in software engineering and ICT,” he added.

Lero director Prof. Lionel Briand said these are just some examples of the research programmes Lero is supporting that will deliver solutions and insights to benefit society and the economy.