Five scientists to represent Ireland at prestigious event with Nobel prize-winning physicists

Five early-career scientists have been selected by the Irish Research Council to represent Ireland at the 69^th Lindau Nobel Laureate Meeting this July.

The Meeting is an annual week-long conference in Lindau, Germany, attended by up to 40 Nobel Prize-winners, as well as hundreds of undergraduates, PhD students and post-doctoral researchers from all over the world.  Its aim is to build links and promote the exchange of ideas amongst scientists of different generations, cultures and disciplines.  This year, the focus of the Meeting will be on cosmology, particle physics and quantum technology.

The five scientists selected to represent Ireland comprise researchers based at University College Cork, the University of Limerick, and Trinity College Dublin.  Their nominations were assessed by the Council and subsequently selected by the Lindau Nobel Laureate Foundation following a rigorous and independent evaluation process.

The successful candidates are:

• Niamh Kavanagh, from the Tyndall Institute at University College Cork, whose research focuses on designing, building and optimising an optical communications system to provide alternatives for future high-capacity, high-speed internet growth;
• Christopher A. Broderick, also based at the Tyndall Institute, at University College Cork, who works on condensed matter theory and computational physics;
• Sarah Guerin, based at the Bernal Institute at University of Limerick, who is developing molecular modelling tools to predict electronic structures and certain responses of molecular crystals;
• Adam Kelly, a nanoscientist at Trinity College Dublin, whose research focuses on developing printed electronics from solution-processed 2D materials; and
• Vijaykumar V. Jadhav, based at the School of Chemistry, University College Cork, whose research focuses on the field of energy storage and material physics.

Commenting today at an awards ceremony to mark the researchers’ selection for the prestigious Linda Nobel Laureate Meeting, Peter Brown, Director of the Irish Research Council, said: “The annual Lindau Nobel Laureate meetings are a unique opportunity for the next generation of scientists to interact with some of the world’s most accomplished scientists.”

“The Lindau Foundation partners with science and research agencies worldwide to identify talented early-career researchers to attend.  We are delighted to be  Lindau’s Irish partner, and to support five scientists from Ireland to attend the event this year.  This is an excellent opportunity for very promising scientists – who are at the formative stages of their careers – to develop links and exchange ideas, both with their peers and with Nobel Laureates in their fields.”

The 69^th Lindau Nobel Laureate Meeting will take place from 30^th June to 5^th July 2019.  It will be attended by 580 young scientists and 40 Nobel Laureates from 88 different countries.