Dr Lingli Zhou of iCRAG at UCD has been awarded funding to the value of €551,900 announced by Minister for Further and Higher Education, Research, Innovation and Science Simon Harris today as part of an investment of €28.5 million across 53 research projects to support Ireland’s emerging research talent through the SFI-IRC Pathway Programme.

Dr Zhou's project "Controls on high-grade stratiform Co mineralisation in the Central African Copperbelt (CRITICAL)" will look into the areas that are particularly enriched in cobalt minerals and understand why that happens and how we can find more cobalt to help the world decarbonise.

Metals are tremendously important to the development of a society. They can be found in everything from electronics, vehicles and homes, to energy supplying infrastructure. Yet, everything indicates our need for metals will increase in the future. The very characteristic for metals is that their raw materials, minerals, can only be mined where ‘Mother Earth’ has them. And they are not evenly distributed in the earth’s crust.

Announcing the new investment, Minister for Further and Higher Education, Research, Innovation and Science Simon Harris, TD, said: “I am thrilled to announce these exciting new research projects, which allow researchers to advance their work and further develop their careers towards becoming the next generation of research leaders in Ireland. It is important that we retain and support our emerging talent across all areas of research, from astronomy, cancer, economics, energy, to health and nutrition. Crucially, this fund focuses on the representation of female researchers in the higher education system. We want to continue to increase the number of females participating in research and funds like this are crucial to helping us achieving this.”

Further details: https://www.sfi.ie/research-news/news/minister-harris-pathway/