Rhodri Cusack is the Thomas Mitchell Professor of Cognitive Neuroscience in Trinity College Dublin, and a world-renowned expert in his field. Prof Geraldine Boylan, Director of the INFANT Centre noted that “The appointment of Prof Cusack as an INFANT PI is very exciting, it expands the impact INFANT will have, and will enable us to gain even more momentum as a world-leading research centre, improving health outcomes for babies around the world”.

The Vice President for Research and Innovation at UCC, Professor Anita Maguire welcomed the addition of this talented research leader to the INFANT Research Centre, noting that “Prof Cusack brings research expertise which is entirely complementary to the current expertise within INFANT, and as a result his addition will open exiting new research opportunities with potential to contribute to improved health outcomes”.

Prof Cusack is the Thomas Mitchell Professor of Cognitive Neuroscience and head of the Cusack Lab in the Trinity College Institute of Neuroscience. As a graduate of Cambridge and the University of Birmingham, he has worked in the MRC Cognition and Brain Sciences Unit in Cambridge and more recently was Associate Professor at the Brain and Mind Institute of the University of Western Ontario. His research has been funded by the IRC, MRC, Wellcome Trust, BBSRC, EPSRC, CIHR, and NSERC. Rhodri has recently received a prestigious ERC Advanced Grant to explore neuroimaging and early infant brain development and has already started active research collaborations with INFANT in this area.

He and his team study the brain development of infants in their first year, a period in which many cognitive functions develop remarkably quickly. They also study how perinatal brain injury affects development and how some infants manage to be so resilient. Their research uses neuroimaging to predict the functional consequences of brain injury at an earlier age, as current behavioural and neurological tools are poor predictors of later impairments, which place stress on families and preclude earlier and more effective interventions. Prof Cusack’s team use a diverse set of neuroimaging methods. With magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) they study brain networks (using diffusion-weighted imaging, functional connectivity) and the developing responses to what an infant sees and hears (using functional MRI). They study infant behaviour and have pioneered ways to do large-scale testing online, and have developed many new tools that bring together computational models of cognition with new neuroimaging techniques, to answer the many fascinating and important questions concerning the origin of our minds. Prof. Cusack’s work and that of INFANT are well aligned strategically and this announcement highlights a formalising of current interactions.

We look forward to working with Rhodri, and warmly welcome him to the team.

An Post unveiled four €1 stamps on Wed 5 September titled “Irish Scientific Discoveries” at the international Schrodinger at 75 Conference in the National Concert Hall. The series of stamps highlight recent scientific discoveries made by scientists who work in pioneering research and development in Ireland.

The science-based stamps represent new areas of research, which are generating new knowledge, cutting-edge technology, and competitive enterprise. The four topics are examples of innovative and impactful academic research being carried out in academic institutions around the country: these are new forms of light, fighting superbugs, emissions adsorption, and INFANT’s seizure prediction algorithm.

Created by An Post in partnership with Science Foundation Ireland, the Irish Scientific Discovery stamps feed into Ireland’s rich scientific history, recognising its growing reputation for scientific excellence worldwide.  This standing is evidenced by Ireland’s ascent in global ranking of scientific citations – now the 10th most innovative country in the world (Global Innovation Index) and 11th for overall IMD World Competitive Ranking, 2017. A 2016 report into Opportunities and Challenges for European Tech Employers also showed 29% of Ireland’s population are now employed in science and technology.

Science Foundation Ireland– an agency of the Department of Business, Enterprise and Innovation – is the national foundation for investment in scientific and engineering research and contributes to societal and economic awareness of the value of science, technology, engineering and maths to our economy and society. Science Foundation Ireland were involved in the selection of scientific breakthroughs which feature on the stamps.

Speaking at the launch of the stamps at the Schrodinger at 75 conference, Professor Mark Ferguson, Director General of Science Foundation Ireland and Chief Scientific Adviser to the Government of Ireland, said: ‘I am delighted to launch the stamp series dedicated to science in Ireland with An Post today. The release of the stamps comes at a fitting time, coinciding with the prestigious Schrodinger at 75 conference which welcomes Nobel Laureates and top researchers from around the world to Dublin. It is great to see our scientific achievements as a country being celebrated, as it is important to acknowledge our impact to date and to inspire our future work. This collection aims to showcase the excellent science and technology research ongoing across the country and encourages people to engage with it. The selected case studies represent just one small facet of the superb and wide-ranging contributions that Irish scientists are making to international advancements in STEM.’

The scientific discoveries featured on the stamps are a credit to the institutions from which this new and exciting work is coming, they recognise the teams and individuals who are applying their minds and their experience to new discoveries and they show the importance of scientific investment and research in shaping the future.   The stamps are designed by Dublin based design agency, Detail, and are available in the GPO, Dublin, at selected post offices nationwide or online at www.irishstamps.ie