Annual Walsh Fellowships Seminar

RDS, Dublin, Thursday, 11 November 2010

The theme of this year's seminar is "The Walsh Fellowship Scheme's contribution to delivering the vision for the agri-food sector outlined in the Food Harvest 2020 report" and the Guest Speaker on the day was Professor Gerald Fitzgerald, Professor of Food Microbiology, UCC.

Opening the seminar, Teagasc Director, Professor Gerry Boyle said; "This vision is based on two key actions - acting smart and thinking green to achieve the ambitious growth targets for the agri-food sector. The importance of innovation, to use new and existing knowledge, to drive profitability and sustainability in the sector is now more important than ever. Success in this new and very competitive environment depends on primary producers and processors being smarter and greener in terms of the range of products and services required by increasingly aware consumers."

This year's winner of the Walsh Fellowships seminar and winner of the RDS medal is Michelle Whelan, who presented a paper on 'Determination of anthelmintic residues in milk using UPLC-MS/MS with rapid polarity switching'. A new analytical method for determining the major classes of anthelmintic drug residues in milk was developed. Michelle Whelan is a Walsh Fellow at the Teagasc Food Research Centre, Ashtown, supervised by Dr Ambrose Furey, Cork Institute of Technology and Dr Martin Danaher, Teagasc.

The winner of the best poster was Burkart Dieterich for his poster on 'Fertiliser value and environmental impact of digestate application on permanent grassland'. Burkart is a Walsh Fellow at the Teagasc Crops, Environment and Land Use Research and Innovation Centre at Oak Park, Carlow. His supervisors are Dr Tamara Hochstrasser, University College Dublin and Dr John Finnan, Teagasc.

This year for the first time a President’s medal donated by The Institute of Food Science and Technology Ireland (IFSTI) was presented to the best food science and technology presentation. This was won by Michelle Whelan, who also won the overall award for best presentation. Gráinne Kavanagh, received an award for second place in this category for her presentation entitled: 'Technological innovation: investing in the future sustainability of the Irish food industry'. Both researchers received one year's free membership to the IFSTI from its President, Rory Ryan.

Walsh Fellowship Abstracts 2010

Conference programme

Time	Activity
09.20	Welcome by Dr. Tony Scott, President, RDS
09.30	Opening by Prof. Gerry Boyle, Director, Teagasc
Morning Session Chair: Dr. Tony Scott, President, RDS
FOOD
09.35	Deciphering the intention-behaviour gap in health behaviour research: A qualitative focus on healthy eating behaviours Paul Naughton Supervisors: Supervisors: Dr. M. McCarthy, UCC and Dr. S. McCarthy, Ashtown Food Research Centre
09.55	Technological innovation - Investing in the future sustainability of the Irish food industry Gráinne Kavanagh Supervisors: Dr. M. McCarthy, UCC, Dr. G. Williams, DIT and Dr. M. Henchion, Ashtown Food Research Centre
10.15	Investigation of underlying factors relating to the development of a pink discolouration defect in commercial cheese David F.M. Daly Supervisors: Prof. P. L.H. McSweeney, UCC and Dr. J. Sheehan, Moorepark Food Research Centre
10.25	A qualitative exploration of Irish stakeholder opinions and views regarding farm animal cloning in light of US commercialisation Cathal Murphy Supervisors: Dr. M. McCarthy, UCC, Dr. G. Williams, DIT and Dr. M. Henchion, Ashtown Food Research Centre
10.55	Tea/Coffee & Poster Viewing
11.15	GUEST SPEAKER: Professor Gerald Fitzgerald, Professor of Food Microbiology, UCC
11.35	Determination of anthelmintic residues in milk using UPLC-MS/MS with rapid polarity switching Michelle Whelan Supervisors: Dr. A. Furey, CIT and M. Danaher, Ashtown Food Research Centre
ANIMAL AND GRASSLAND
11.55	The genetics of residual feed intake in beef cattle J. J. Crowley Supervisors: Dr. A.G. Fahy, UCD; Dr. D. H. Crews, Jr, Colorado State University, Dr. D. A Kenny, Dr. M. McGee Animal & Grassland Research and Innovation Centre, Grange and Dr. D. P. Berry, Animal & Grassland Research and Innovation Centre, Moorepark
12.15	Treatment of dairy soiled water using aerobic woodchip filters Eimear Ruane Supervisors: Dr. M. Healy, Dr. M. Rodgers, NUI Galway, Dr. P. French and Dr. P. Murphy, Animal and Grassland Research and Innovation Centre, Moorepark
12.35	The fertiliser potential of dairy soiled water in temperate grasslands Denis Minogue Supervisors: Dr. T. Bolger, UCD; Dr. P. French and Dr. P. Murphy, Animal & Grassland Research and Innovation Centre, Moorepark
12.55	Lunch & Poster Viewing
Afternoon Session Chair: Mr. Jim Flanagan , Chairman, RDS Committee of Agriculture & Rural Affairs
CROPS, ENVIRONMENT, LAND USE & ECONOMICS
14.05	Engineering disease suppressive composts for use in horticulture Conor McGee Supervisors: Dr. O. Doyle, UCD and Dr. M. Gaffney, Horticulture Development Unit, Kinsealy
14.25	Investigating the carbon balance implications of establishing biomass crops Órlaith Ní Choncubhair Supervisors: Dr. B. Osborne, UCD; and Dr. G. Lanigan, Environment Research and Innovation Centre, Johnstown Castle Centre.
14.45	A stochastic analysis of the decision to produce biomass crops in Ireland Daragh Clancy Supervisors: Dr. M. Wallace, UCD, Dr. J. Breen and Dr. F. Thorne, Rural Economics and Development Research and Innovation Centre, Athenry
15.05	Reception
Concluding Session Chair: Prof. Gerry Boyle, Director of Teagasc
15.40	Announcement of Award Winner by Judging Panel. Presentation of RDS Medal, Teagasc prize and IOBI Certificates by Dr. Damini Kumar
16.10	Concluding remark (Prof. Gerry Boyle)

Walsh Fellowship Abstracts

View abstracts here.

Chairman, RDS Committee of Agriculture & Rural Affairs, Jim Flanagan, with Michelle Whelan, Ashtown Food Research Centre, Walsh Fellow of the Year and winner of the RDS medal, and Teagasc Director Professor Gerry Boyle. Michelle received the award for her research work and paper on Determination of anthelmintic residues in milk using UPLC-MS/MS with rapid polarity switching.

Previous Winners

Winner of the Young Researcher of the Year 2009

The 2009 winner of the best presentation award at the annual Walsh Fellowship was Brid Coffey, a student at the Teagasc Moorepark Food Research Centre. She received the award for her research work and paper on Biocontrol of Escherichia coli O157:H7: Evaluation of two anti-E coli O157:H7 Bacteriophage in the cattle rumen. Brid is from Caherciveen, Co. Kerry.

Winner of the Young Researcher of the Year 2007

The 2007 winner of the annual Walsh Fellowship award was Lisa Costello, a Walsh Fellow working at the Teagasc Animal Production Research Centre, Athenry and at the Physiology Department in the National University of Ireland, Galway. She received the award for her research work on early embryo loss in cattle, looking at the influence of the protein environment of the pre-implantation embryo during the oestrous cycle. Lisa is pictured with (background, from left) Professor Patrick Cunningham, Chief Scientific Adviser to the Government (keynote Speaker at the seminar); and, Professor Gerry Boyle, Director, Teagasc.

Winner of the Young Researcher of the Year 2006

The 2006 winner of the Young Researcher of the Year was Kaushal Kothari. He completed his project at Teagasc’s Moorepark Research Centre in Co Cork. The project studied the effects of advanced high-pressure processing technologies on cheese and natural yoghurt. Kaushal, comes from Anand on the West coast of India, holds a primary degree in Dairy Science and a Masters from Nottingham University in England.

Winner of the Young Researcher of the Year 2005

Winner of the Young Researcher of the Year 2005 at the Walsh Fellowships Seminar was Sean Fair, Athenry Research Centre, seen below with the director of Teagasc, Jim Flanagan, David Cornwall, RDS and Dr Tony Scott, RDS.

• Back to Walsh Fellowship Programme.