Leap native’s research award

A LEAP native has got top recognition for her work in the Irish Research Council’s Researcher of the Year awards. Michelle O’Driscoll of University College Cork was awarded the Jane Grimson Medal of Excellence for being the top-ranked postgraduate researcher in the Stem category. The objective of Ms O’Driscoll’s research is to tackle antimicrobial resistance by interfering with bacterial communication. The annual awards recognise the very best of the Council’s funded researchers who are making highly significant and valuable contributions to knowledge, society, culture, or innovation. The winners were selected by an independent expert panel, chaired by Luke Drury, Professor Emeritus of Dublin Institute for Advanced Studies. Peter Brown, director of the Irish Research Council, congratulated this year’s winners and said that they demonstrated how research helps society answer some of the big questions of our time and can make a significant and lasting impact. ‘We look forward to continuing to cultivate a vibrant research community in which there are world-class researchers across disciplines,’ he said.