Pictured at the signing of a landmark MOU to enhance research collaboration between Dublin Institute for Advanced Studies and TUS Shannon are: Prof. Vincent Cunnane, President TUS and Dr. Eucharia Meehan, CEO, DIAS with Dr Sean Lyons, Dean of Faculty of Engineering & Informatics, TUS, Prof. Peter Gallagher, Head of DIAS Astronomy & Astrophysics, Minister James Lawless, Minister for Further and Higher Education, Research, Innovation and Science; Dr Mark Daly, Senior Lecturer Department of Computer & Software Engineering, TUS, and Prof. John Hegarty Chair of DIAS Council.

PhD students to work on I-LOFAR project at Birr Castle

Published:

A new agreement signed between the Dublin Institute for Advanced Studies (DIAS) and the Technological University of the Shannon (TUS) will result in two TUS PhD students working on the prestigious I-LOFAR at Birr Castle in Offaly.

The agreement with the Technological University of the Shannon (TUS) was signed during the celebrations of the Institute’s 85th year anniversary by Dr Eucharia Meehan, CEO of DIAS, and President of TUS, Professor Vincent Cunnane.

Under the terms of the agreement, two TUS PhD research students, funded by the university, will be appointed DIAS scholars, receiving mentorship from DIAS’s world-renowned researchers at Dunsink Observatory and participating in cutting edge research, working on the prestigious I-LOFAR at Birr Castle in Offaly.

I-LOFAR stands for Irish Low Frequency Array and it is Ireland’s largest radio telescope. It is part of a Europe-wide collaborative astronomy project where Irish scientists and students participate in pan-European research in areas such as: Astrophysics, Cosmic magnetism, Space weather, Solar physics and Big Data and AI applications in astronomy.

The research outputs will be held in a new centralised Astrophysics storage and High Performance Computing facility at TUS which will benefit all researchers nationally. This new facility will train undergraduates in modelling large datasets.

TUS and DIAS have also committed to regional educational and industrial workshops to create awareness of the expertise available from the collaboration, with the first workshops will be held in conjunction with the LEO office in Offaly.

Congratulating both Institutions, Minister James Lawless TD, Minister for Further and Higher Education, Research, Innovation, and Science said: “I warmly congratulate DIAS and TUS on the signing of this important Memorandum of Understanding. Strategic collaboration such as this strengthens our research base and positions Ireland globally at the forefront of technological progress”.

Published: