TU Dublin Lecturer wins Research Ally Prize at IRC Researcher of the Year 2022 Awards
The Irish Research Council has awarded TU Dublin Senior Lecturer Dr Máirtín Mac Con Iomaire a Research Ally Prize for the second year running.
This award was announced on Tuesday, 06 December, as part of the IRC Researcher of the Year 2022 awards. This national award category of Research Ally Prizes, now in its second year, honours the positive role of supervisors, mentors, and research officers in supporting and sustaining the Irish research community, and how they help to foster a positive academic culture based on equality, inclusivity, and respect.
Dr Mac Con Iomaire is a senior lecturer in the School of Culinary Arts and Food Technology and was nominated as a Research Ally by three of his PhD graduates for the positive impact he has made as a supervisor. Earlier this year, he also secured the 2022 IRC Government of Ireland Scholarship for his doctoral student Caitríona Nic Philibín. Máirtín has built a cluster of researchers around the field of Irish food and beverage history, diplomatic dining, chefs and kitchen culture, food tourism policy, food in folklore, and food education. A doctoral graduate from last year, Tara McConnell has recently published her thesis as a monograph with Peter Lang titled Honest Claret: The Social Meaning of Georgian Ireland's Favourite Wine.
Currently chair of the MA Gastronomy and Food Studies at TU Dublin, he is also co-founder and chair of the biennial Dublin Gastronomy Symposium, and co-editor of the European Journal of Food, Drink, and Society. Dr Mac Con Iomaire says he is "absolutely delighted with the award, particularly since it was instigated by my students, and being awarded for the second year in a row makes it all the more special."