Top science post award

A 27-year old Ogonnelloe resident has been awarded a highly prestigious 18-month Marie Curie Fellowship, which she will take up in the Netherlands in August.

Dr Susan Boland applied last month for an intellectual Marie Curie Research Fellowship and found out last week that she has been chosen to work on a research project focussing on heterogenous precious metal catalysts.
A graduate of the National University of Ireland Galway, Dr Boland first began her career in science by completing a degree in science, specialising in chemistry.
Such were her results from the undergraduate programme, Dr Boland proceeded to a PhD course of study in the Biomolecular Electronics Research Laboratory, in the Environmental Change Institute and chemistry also at NUIG.
Having completed her doctorate, Dr Boland took part in a transfer of knowledge programme with the Ulysses Research Grant scheme in France.
She then pursued a post-doctorate research project, in the same group as she conducted her PhD and her research was focused in bio-molecular electronics.
The Marie Curie Fellowship is a mobility research grant funding pre and post-doctoral researchers in Europe as well as experienced researchers.Fellowships are awarded by the European Commission in various scientific disciplines within the Marie Curie Actions programme or the People programme.
Due to the sensitive nature of the research fellowship that Dr Boland will be undertaking, there is very little she can say about the subject matter other than she will begin the 18-month stint in Utrecht in the Netherlands in August and the research will focus on nano engineering precious metals.
She is the only Irish post-doctoral researcher to achieve this post within the NanoHost research project to date.
She said, “It is quite prestigious to get this fellowship, which is offered in different areas of research.
“After travelling, I decided to look for a job and I applied for this last month and found out last week that I got it. It would gear me up for a career in international research, which I would enjoy.”