Walsh Scholars - The Next Generation 2020

Walsh Scholars: The Next Generation is a showcase of Teagasc’s leading postgraduate agri-food research.

• Meritxell Grau

  Meritxell Grau, the Walsh Scholarships Programme Gold Medal Winner and Walsh Scholar of the Year for the Crops, Environment and Land Use Programme and the Gold Merit. Meritxell’s PhD project is examining the effect soil pH and phosphorus has on the microbial communities emitting nitrous oxide (N2O).

• Paul Smith

  Paul Smith, Walsh Scholar of the Year for the Animal and Grassland Research and Innovation Programme. Paul’s PhD project is investigating the link between the composition of the rumen microbiome, feed efficiency and methane output in beef cattle.

• Kevin Maher

  Kevin Maher, Walsh Scholar of the Year for the Knowledge Transfer Programme. Kevin’s Master’s project examined the factors influencing the adoption of nutrient management plans among Nitrates Derogation farmers.

• Gemma Regan

  Gemma Regan, Walsh Scholar of the Year for the Food Programme and Institute of Food Science & Technology Ireland (IFSTI) medal winner. Gemma’s PhD project analysed nitrofuran residues, antibiotics have been banned from use in food producing animals, & shortened the analysis time from 4 days to 1.5

• Adrienne Attorp

  Adrienne Attorp, Walsh Scholar of the Year for the Rural Economy and Development Programme. Adrienne’s PhD project considers challenges faced in the continued management of waterways shared by Ireland and Northern Ireland post-Brexit

• Clodagh Walsh

  Clodagh Walsh, Walsh Scholar of the Year runner up for the Food Programme. Clodagh project is focuses on investigating the specific interaction between human milk sugars (HMO) and infant probiotic bacteria.

• Darren Murphy

  Darren Murphy, Walsh Scholar of the Year runner up for the Animal and Grassland Research and Innovation Programme. Darren’s project examined how best to optimise conventional grass measurement technologies using numerical simulation methods.

• Diana Van Doorn

  Diana van Doorn, Walsh Scholar of the Year runner up for the Rural Economy and Development Programme. Diana’s project carried out a series of heart health checks, along with health behaviour change intervention, which lead to a positive impact on farmers’ heart health and wellbeing.

• William McCarthy

  William McCarthy, Walsh Scholar of the second runner up for the Food Programme. William’s project is examining chlorate in the dairy supply chain, how it enters and behaves in milk, while developing new techniques to stop contamination and even remove chlorate from milk.

Walsh Scholar Showcase 2020

The 2020 Next Generation Showcase gave some information on the Walsh Scholarships Programme and Alumni Network.  Some of the fascinating studies by final year Scholars were featured. The 2020 Walsh Scholars Gold Medal and Alum Award winners were revealed.

Walsh Scholars The Next Generation (PDF)

Walsh Scholar Award Winners 2020

• Emily Masters Clark

  Emily Masters-Clark, Walsh Scholars of the Year second runner for the Crops, Environment & Land Use Programme. Emily’s project is defining interactions between beneficial soil microbes with the aim is to exploit these interactions to create inoculants that will enhance crop growth.

• John Maguire

  John Maguire, Walsh Scholar of the Year second runner up for the Knowledge Transfer Programme. John’s project examined how best to equip Teagasc teachers to teach using a Problem Based Learning approach.

• Richa Marwaha

  Richa Marawaha, Walsh Scholar of the Year second runner up for the Rural Economy and Development Programme. Richa’s project uses satellite imagery along with agro-meteorological data to develop machine learning algorithms that allow for grass growth rate to be estimated.

• Sarah Fitzpatrick

  Sarah Fitzpatrick, Walsh Scholar of the Year second runner up for the Animal and Grassland Research and Innovation Programme. Sarah’s project evaluated the effectiveness of teat disinfectant products against the most prevalent mastitis-causing pathogens found in an Irish dairy herd.

• Sean McMahon

  Sean McMahon, Walsh Scholar of the Year runner up for the Knowledge Transfer Programme. Sean’s project examined how social media has the potential influence to promote grassland measuring and support farmer decision making.

Walsh Scholars The Next Generation

Walsh Scholar Profiles