The Minister of State at the Department of Agriculture, Food and the Marine, Martin Heydon T.D., today announced two new research grant awards by the Department of Agriculture, Food and the Marine. The awards amount to almost €475,000 and facilitate researchers in Teagasc and UCD to collaborate on international research projects relating to nutrition in older citizens. The funded projects are well aligned with national strategic ambitions for the agri-food sector to contribute positively to citizens’ health and well-being insofar as they focus on research relating to taste, nutritional profile and health inducing properties.
Announcing the awards the Minister said, “I am delighted to announce two new research awards for Irish-based researchers which allow them to partner and collaborate with their European counterparts in addressing an important challenge relating to the protection of health and well-being in older citizens. The projects selected for funding have a particular focus on the development of innovative food products that are aimed at the prevention of diet related disease and will help overcome issues relating to poor nutrition in older citizens.”
The awards arise under the ‘‘Joint Programming Initiative – a Healthy Diet for a Healthy Life’’ (JPI-HDHL), which in 2020 issued a competitive research call seeking transnational and trans-disciplinary research proposals relating to the development of targeted nutrition for the prevention of under-nutrition in older adults which can often arise as a result of a loss of appetite and/or issues related to food composition and texture.
The Minister added that ‘‘these awards will further strengthen existing scientific linkages and develop capacity and capability, keeping us to the fore in delivering innovation in the Agri-food sector.”
