The winners include a 3D designing technology that takes inspiration from nature and a minimally invasive capsaicin hydrogel as a pain reliever.
Two University of Galway projects have won Proof of Concept (PoC) grants from the European Research Council (ERC) in its second round for 2025, taking the total number of winning Ireland-based projects to four for the year.
The ERC approved 136 projects in its second and final PoC funding call for the year, with each winning project receiving €150,000 to help researchers as they explore how their work can have a practical application or early commercial use. Overall, the ERC has supported 300 projects under this programme this year, representing an overall budget of €45m.
The new grantees will conduct research across 23 EU member states, as well as associated countries. The majority of the projects will take place in Germany, Spain, Italy and the UK. The PoC grant scheme is a part of Horizon Europe, the EU’s research and innovation programme.
One of the winning Galway projects is set to advance an innovative software platform that enables engineers to design lighter, stronger, and more efficient components optimised for 3D printing across biomedical, automotive and aerospace applications.
According to the team behind the research, the new technology could offer the freedom to create complex and lightweight parts with lesser material waste.
This project, called ‘Concept-AM’ is led by Prof Ted Vaughan, the director of the Institute for Health Discovery and Innovation and a professor of biomedical engineering, alongside Dr Mahtab Vafaeefar, a postdoctoral researcher in biomedical engineering at the university.
“The ERC Proof of Concept programme provides a vital bridge between discovery and application, enabling researchers to translate frontier science into real-world impact and we are delighted to build on our research and bring its benefits closer to industry and society,” said Vaughan.
“Too often, we simply ‘print’ conventional designs rather than truly exploiting the capabilities of additive manufacturing.
“Our goal is to provide intuitive tools that automatically generate high-performance, production-ready designs that are truly functionally tailored to each application, reducing costs, saving material and accelerating innovation.”
Concept-AM builds on biomimetic principles developed during Vaughan’s ERC Starting Grant, where he took inspiration from how nature designs complex structure, translating that into components with engineering applications.
Meanwhile project ‘Uro-Lieve’ is a new approach to “selectively silence pain fibres” as a therapy for relief from symptoms of painful bladder syndrome known as interstitial cystitis. This approach aims to avoid the severe burning that is a result of current treatments.
Uro-Lieve is led by Prof Martin O’Halloran, a principal investigator in the College of Medicine Nursing and Health Sciences and the executive director of the BioInnovate programme at the University of Galway.
“Painful bladder syndrome (interstitial cystitis) is a chronic, under-diagnosed condition marked by persistent bladder pain, urgency and frequency, with profound impacts on quality of life, mental health and economic productivity,” said O’Halloran.
“This proposal introduces Uro-Lieve, a minimally invasive, biodegradable capsaicin hydrogel designed to selectively silence pain fibres while avoiding the severe burning of current treatments.
“It highlights a major unmet clinical need and the broader structural neglect of women’s pain in research and healthcare.”
Last July, two Irish projects were announced as winners in the first round of the ERC PoC grants for the year. This included a Trinity College Dublin research endeavour that uses AI to predict and analyse conflicts and a University of Galway project called ‘VisionPrint’ that explores quality monitoring of 3D bioprinting via light sheet microscopy.
“The discoveries emerging from ERC-funded research are very often more than academic breakthroughs. They form the bedrock of future innovation ecosystems across Europe, inspiring new technologies, businesses and societal solutions,” said Ekaterina Zaharieva, the European commissioner for start-ups, research and innovation.
ERC president Prof Maria Leptin added: “The ERC does not ask its researchers to start with ready-made solutions or immediate applications.
“Instead, ERC grantees explore the frontiers of knowledge, guided by their curiosity and scientific ambition.
“With these Proof of Concept grants, many ERC grantees will explore the commercialisation or societal potential of their curiosity. And they will lay the foundation for future technological innovations and societal technologies that drive progress in Europe.”
Earlier this month, O’Halloran spoke to SiliconRepublic.com about the BioInnovate programme, which is currently accepting applications for its next cohort.
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