Dr Kate Falconer awarded COALESCE Grant for Project entitled 'Making Body Disposal in Ireland Environmentally and Socially Sustainable (BoDIESS)'

17 Nov 2025

COALESCE (Collaborative Alliances for Societal Challenges) supports excellent, interdisciplinary research that addresses national and global societal challenges by fostering collaboration between researchers and policymakers, civil society, and enterprise.

UCC has been awarded funding for five interdisciplinary projects between researchers across research areas in AHSS (Arts, Humanities and Social Sciences) and STEM (Science, Technology, Engineering and Maths), making UCC the highest performing institute in the COALESCE 2025 programme.

Announcing funding of over €3.5 million for 16 research projects under the COALESCE programme, Minister for Further and Higher Education, Research, Innovation and Science, James Lawless TD, said: "Harnessing the power of research is key to tackling the most pressing challenges facing our society. These awards are not just about academic excellence – they are about delivering real, tangible benefits for people and communities. Whether it is supporting survivors of gender-based violence, driving climate action, or safeguarding our cultural heritage, these projects will make a meaningful difference. This is research with purpose, and I commend all the awardees for their dedication to the public good."

Among the new research projects totalling €1.1 million that will be funded at University College Cork is Dr Kate Flaconer (Lead Researcher), School of Law and Radical Humanities Laboratory; Dr Tim Sullivan (Co-PI), School of Biological, Earth & Environmental Sciences.

Making Body Disposal in Ireland Environmentally and Socially Sustainable (BoDIESS)
Funding Amount: €219,949

This project will use methodological tools drawn from socio-legal studies and environmental science to develop new insights into changing body disposal preferences in communities across Ireland. To ensure Ireland can meet the social, environmental, and regulatory challenges of modern body disposal, it will establish the foundations for industry standards and policy guidelines addressing all funerary methods that are modern, certain, consistent, socially cohesive, and environmentally responsible.

Other awardees from UCC inlude: 

Dr James Cuffe (Lead Researcher), Department of Sociology & Criminology, UCC College of Art, Celtic Studies and Social Sciences; Dr Sarah O’Connell (Co-PI), UCC College of Science, Engineering & Food Science.

Dr James O’Sullivan (Lead Researcher), Digital Humanities; Susan Rae (Co-PI), Nimbus Research Centre, Munster Technology University.

Dr Mastoureh Fathi (Lead Researcher), Department of Sociology & Criminology; Dr Paolo Palmieri (Co-PI), School of Computer Science & Information Technology.

Dr Jesse Peterson (Lead Researcher), Department of Geography and Radical Humanities Laboratory; Dr Louise Firth (Co-PI), School of Biological, Earth and Environmental Sciences.