Dr Orla Power-Grant awarded EHS Research Culture Award 2024

The Education and Health Sciences Research Culture Award 2024 has been awarded to Dr Orla Power-Grant, EHS Research Funding Officer.

The EHS Research Committee announced the EHS Research Culture Award 2024 in March of this year with the intent of formally acknowledging and celebrating EHS colleagues (individuals or teams) who have positively influenced the research culture in EHS. It recognises outstanding efforts that foster collegiality, collaboration, efficiency, and ultimately, a thriving research community.

Speaking at the presentation of the award, Dr Elaine Kinsella, Assistant Dean Research, defined positive research culture as “a supportive, inclusive and collaborative environment where researchers can learn from each other, share knowledge, and collaborate on projects. It promotes innovation by encouraging researchers to think creatively, take risks and explore ideas.”

Dr Power Grant was nominated by Dr Jenna Lorusso, a Marie Curie Research Fellow at the Department of Physical Education and Sports Sciences. In her nomination form, Jenna wrote of Orla:

“Orla does not make researchers feel that any funding application is too small to warrant her support and encourages and motivates more individuals to apply. In doing so, she helps to ensure there is a broad base feeding the talent pipeline, further enhancing the sustainability of the EHS research ecosystem and the achievement of funding targets.”

Professor Deirdre McGrath, Dean of Faculty of Education and Health Sciences, presented Orla with her award, noting that these awards were independently peer-reviewed by a panel of evaluators (with representatives from the EHS Research Committee, PhD students, Research Office, administrative, technical staff and EHS Professorship), and the process was overseen and approved by Dr Elaine Kinsella and Professor Rose Galvin.

The Dean warmly congratulated Orla on her outstanding work that has contributed to this award.