Top Young Researcher presents at Teagasc Seminar

The 2008 Teagasc Walsh Fellowships Postgraduate seminar took place at the RDS in Dublin, yesterday, 12 November 2008, at which the best young scientific researchers working in the fields of agriculture and food presented their research. The Walsh Fellowship Seminar takes place as part of the Teagasc series of Science Week events.

Each year the outstanding young researcher is awarded the RDS medal and a Teagasc bursary and selected as Young Researcher of the Year. This year’s winner of the RDS medal is Galatios Moschonas, a student at the Teagasc Ashtown Food Research Centre. He received the award for his research work which led to changes in the way the beef industry packs beef. Blown Pack Spoilage (BPS) is a major food safety and quality issue facing the Irish beef industry. Prior to this research it was believed that there were two psychrophilic Clostridium spp. responsible for Blown Pack Spoilage and there were no known control measures. This research identified a new, as yet unnamed, BPS Clostridium spp. and led to the development of a new technology to detect the organism for which a patent has been filed. As a result new control measures have been introduced into beef factories.

The Walsh Fellowship Scheme was named after the first Director of AFT, Dr Tom Walsh and since the establishment of a system of research grants for postgraduates was initiated, over 1,000 students have participated in the Teagasc scheme. The Walsh Fellowship Scheme encourages high calibre graduates to stay in Ireland and pursue their research interests. These graduates go on to make a vital contribution to the agri-food industry in Ireland and further afield.

Teagasc are currently making changes to the Walsh Fellowship Scheme to ensure the long term development of the scheme and to ensure it continues to operate as a premium postgraduate training programme. It is proposed that from 2009 a significant number of the fellowships will be awarded as part of ‘mini-programmes’ aimed at the strategic development of key Teagasc research areas. It is also proposed that Teagasc will now adopt an explicit policy of internationalising the programme with the best universities, research institutes and companies in the world.

At the seminar the RDS Committee of Agriculture and Rural Affairs announced the provision of €10,000 annually, for three years, to part-fund a Walsh Fellow to study the impact of climate change adaptation and policy instruments on local, regional and national Greenhouse Gas Emissions: A Spatially Disaggregated Policy Assessment.

Dr Don Thornhill, Chairman of the National Competitiveness Council, Forfás was the guest speaker and delivered the keynote address at the seminar which is organised by Teagasc, in association with the RDS.