New Research Theme Underway: New paper on Peat Filtration

There are many domestic treatment systems available but little real treatment data on existing systems carried out independently.    So our new research theme asks the question: How good are small-scale biological treatment systems?

Most studies on treatment systems have been done immediately post commissioning leading to over expectations of systems and generally poor performance evaluation which could result in long term environmental problems.

So just how well do these systems work?  The first paper in this series has just been published jointly with John Coady and there are 50 free downloads for the paper which became available online on September 3^rd 2014. Link:http://www.tandfonline.com/eprint/4E8eHpEkAB7T2Wjz4UPW/full

The full reference is:

N.F. Gray and  J. Coady (2014): Evaluation of full-scale vertical peat biofilters for treatment of septic tank effluents, International Journal of Environmental Studies, DOI:  10.1080/00207233.2014.954819

Research ethics

An interesting article came to my notice the other day by David Resnick with the title What is ethics in research and why it is important?  One of the things that is popping up increasingly frequency in research applications is a section on ethics, so I was delighted to see this article.

David is a bioethicist at the National Institute of Environmental Health Sciences which is part of the US Department of Health and Human Services.   He gives a number of interesting case studies and tackles a number of thorny issues such as who should be included as an author on a research paper.   An entertaining and enlightening short article.  Access the article here. (Nick Gray)

SFI Postdoctoral Four-Year Early Career Grants

Science Foundation Ireland (SFI) has recently launched the Starting Investigator Research Grant (SIRG) which is aimed at funding excellent early-career-stage investigators (postdoctoral) to carry out independent research in the fields of science and engineering that underpin biotechnology, information and communications technology, and sustainable energy and energy-efficient technologies. Funding of up to €400,000 direct costs over a four year period is provided to successful applicants, to include the Starting Investigator’s salary and funding for a postgraduate student . A mentor is required to support the necessary support and infrastructure to the project. Full information can be accessed here.
The Water Technology Research Group would like to encourage applications from any nationality to apply for one of these grants. Each institution including Trinity College Dublin is required to supply a list of approved (pre-selected) candidates to SFI who make the final selection. An internal deadline of 15th June has been set for online applications, then a short-listing will be coordinated by the Dean of Research in association with the Faculty Deans. Time is short, so if you are interested please contact either Professor Nick Gray or the TCD research office.