Research Themes

The School of BEES hosts a diverse research community. The overarching driver for research in BEES is the topical ‘trilemma’ created by the societal demands for:

• a healthy environment (BEES research in geology, biodiversity, the oceans, water and habitats).
• sustainably produced high quality food (BEES research in crops, aquaculture, and fisheries).
• sustainable, reliable energy and resource supplies (BEES research in renewables, raw materials and crops).

As part of the School’s research strategy, identified strengths are thematically grouped to provide critical mass to do research of international quality; considering generated outputs, expertise and relevance to National and European Research priorities.

Our main research themes are:

Research Facilities

The School of BEES operates in three main buildings: the Cork Enterprise Centre, the adjoining Butler Building, and the Cooperage Building. These three buildings are all located on the UCC North Mall campus. The School of BEES conducts, and collaborates in research at various national locations including;

School research activities are centred on the UCC North Mall Campus, across the Butler Building (predominantly Plant Science, Environmental Science and Geology research), Enterprise Centre, Cooperage (Marine and Animal research, Paleobiology, Petrology, and the Aquaculture and Fisheries Development Centre), and surrounding areas for glasshouses, plant growth trials, large ponds for freshwater experiments and an aviary. Additionally, there are field facilities, including field laboratories at Lough Hyne National Marine Reserve.

The research infrastructure in BEES is operated as a School facility that is shared by all BEES researchers. Research infrastructure and platform technologies include a suite of research laboratories, including a microscopy suite with SEMs, RAMAN FT-IR system, plant pathology, molecular biology, and isotope facilities, a postmortem facility for inter alia cetacean and seal studies, chemical analysis facilities including HPLC, MALDI-TOF and GC-MS, facilities for genome and proteome analysis, marine and freshwater holding facilities, plant growth rooms for sterile and non-sterile cultures, rock cutting and thin sectioning and a School workshop.

The School also owns two Rigid Inflatable Boats (RIBS) for inshore survey work, one dedicated for use at Lough Hyne. The recent developments of iCRAG and MaREI have facilitated investments in specific pieces of equipment for marine related research. BEES also utilises some research space in the ERI (plant growth experiments, sedimentology lab and water quality lab) and MaREI’s Beaufort Building outside the city.

Research Institutes, Centres and Groups

The School of BEES hosts and is involved with numerous research institutes, centres and groups. These interactions serve to promote and develop research at BEES whilst allowing for strong, collaborative links with partners locally, nationally and internationally.