A total investment of €1.4m for research projects on Covid-19 have been approved by Science Foundation Ireland.
Business, Enterprise, and Innovation Minister Heather Humphreys announced that 11 research projects that are being carried out by higher education institutions in Ireland will receive the funding.
Projects include remote blood-pressure monitoring in pregnancy, development of tests for antibodies, addressing supply-chain challenges, and computer modelling the impact of Covid-19.
A UCC project aims to reduce the number of hospital check-up visits for pregnant women during the Covid-19 pandemic by monitoring blood pressure remotely.
One UCD-based project is focused on using 3D printers to create PPE for frontline medical staff. It is run out of I-Form, the SFI Research Centre for Advanced Manufacturing, which is headquartered at UCD.
This project, entitled 3D printing PPE for healthcare settings, has secured €126,071 in funding.
A second UCD project involves researchers measuring Sars-Cov-2 levels in wastewater treatment plants in Dublin. It aims to map where Covid-19 is spreading by analysing the presence of the virus in sewage and waste water treatment plants.
This project secured €48,666 in funding.