UCC punches at global level in Top ten Hottest fields
22.07.2011
“Research in UCC’s School of Biological, Earth and Environmental Sciences (BEES) is punching at a global level in one of the hottest fields in science – Plants for food,” Professor John O’Halloran reported at a briefing to the Minister for Agriculture, Food and Marine, Simon Coveney TD, at UCC today (22nd July 2011). “The impact of Plant and Forest research at UCC is double the global average and we are actively delivering on the Government’s agenda for research translation and commercialisation.” This was the outcome of an independent analysis of institutional productivity using the citation-based research evaluation tool InCites™.

This research, according to O’Halloran, will help resolve the food energy trilemma where delivering more food from less land, which now competes with energy crops, may have major environmental consequences. “With global populations growing rapidly, there are huge risks of food shortages and enormous environmental damage, and so we need new sources of food and higher yielding crops”, said Professor O’Halloran. The School of BEES has a long and distinguished history of research excellence in the areas of Plant Science, Forestry, Aquaculture and Fisheries, and these have the potential to support food and energy demand in sustainable ways.

Minister Coveney was welcomed to the School of BEES by Professor Patrick Fitzpatrick, Head of the College of Science, Engineering & Food Science (SEFS) and Professor John O’Halloran, Head, School of BEES. The Minister’s itinerary included a guided tour of Aquaculture, Fisheries & Forestry, Agriculture and Food. The visit concluded with a Presentation by the Minister to invited guests, staff and students.

BEES conducts research in Plant Science including the development of better and novel crop plants and the sustainable control of plant pests and diseases. The School is also committed to the innovation agenda and the generation of new wealth. Gourmet Marine is a recently established aquaculture company and is a BEES spin-out, one of the first in the Marine Food sector. The School is also advancing further research in sustainable Plant Biology, Forestry, Fisheries and Aquaculture.

Picture: Professor John O'Halloran making a presentation to Minister Simon Coveney

Notes:
InCites further information at http://researchanalytics.thomsonreuters.com/m/pdfs/InCites_EN_web.pdf Plants for food one of the top 10 hot topics identified by London Financial Times in June 2011-07-20. According to the Financial Times, Plant Science is in the 'Top Ten Hottest Fields in Science'. It's up there alongside the search for 'dark matter' at CERN; pioneering stem-cell research and the cutting-edge area of quantum computing'. http://www.ft.com/cms/s/2/bedd6da8-9d37-11e0-997d-00144feabdc0.html
Gourmet Marine food http://www.ucc.ie/en/bees/research/gourmetmarine/

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