Friday 20 June 2025

The Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) has announced new research awards of €6.9m for environmental and climate research in Ireland. This brings to €21.4m the total research funding announced by the EPA to date in 2025.

The funding will support 11 new and innovative projects, which will involve 98 staff and students across 27 organisations. It will also build research capacity and skills in areas relevant to tackling important environmental challenges. Successful projects will address policy-relevant topics such as:

• Understanding the impacts of noise pollution on health and the environment;
• Exploring young people’s attitudes, knowledge and actions around climate change;
• Mechanisms to support scaling-up of the circular economy;
• Understanding how exposure to future sea level rise could impact population dynamics; and
• Studying remote Irish islands to enhance our understanding of the response and resilience of offshore environments to climate change.

Critical role of research and innovation 

Dr Eimear Cotter, director of the EPA’s Office of Evidence and Assessment, said:“The increased scale of research funding being announced by the EPA in 2025 reflects the critical role that research and innovation play in addressing climate change, environmental pollution and biodiversity decline.

"This new EPA funding will help develop innovative solutions to support Ireland’s response to these challenges. Congratulations to the successful researchers and I look forward to hearing more about these exciting projects in the years ahead.”

The list of funded awards made to date in 2025 is available on the EPA website with full project details in the EPA’s online Research Database.

The EPA Research Programme is a overnment initiative funded by the Department of Climate, Energy and the Environment. Further details are available on the EPA website.