Congratulations to the winners of the Trinity Research Doctorate (Sanctuary) Awards 2024-25 and their Supervisors
Project 1
PlantChem Project - Investigating the Impact of Atmospheric Composition on Plant Chemistry: A Multidisciplinary Approach
PlantChem Project - Investigating the Impact of Atmospheric Composition on Plant Chemistry: A Multidisciplinary Approach
Abstract:
The PlantChem Project under the supervision of Professor McElwain aims to uncover how changes in the atmosphere impact the chemistry of plants, with implications for local ecosystems and global sustainability. PlantChem will examine how alterations in atmospheric composition influence the chemical makeup of plants. By examining plant specimens (fossils and dried samples from living plants) from various time periods and environments, we hope to illuminate how plants have adapted to past atmospheric changes and how they may respond in the future.
To achieve this, PlantChem will employ a mix of advanced techniques like Fourier Transform Infrared Spectroscopy (FTIR), Scanning Electron Microscopy with EDX (SEM), and X-ray Fluorescence (XRF), alongside traditional methods such as herbarium surveys and fossils collections. This integrated approach will provide a comprehensive understanding of the link between atmospheric composition and plant chemistry.
Our research goals are straightforward: to assess the chemical composition of both fossilized and modern plant specimens under different atmospheric conditions, analyze the data using statistical methods, and draw meaningful conclusions about plants' adaptive plasticity, response limits and ecological stoichometry strategies.
The significance of our work may extend beyond academia. By deepening understanding of how plants respond chemically to their environment at times of extreme atmospheric upheaval in the geological past , may provide key insights on the potential chemical plasticity of plants and differences/similarities among evolutionary groups with implications on how best to manage future ecosystem function and services in a globally warmed world. Our research proposal represents a collaborative effort between a scholar (Siddiq) with prior expertise in plant chemical analyses of contemporary medicinal plants and a Professor (McElwain) with vast experience in research and teaching on the evolution of plant-atmosphere interactions on geological timescales. The proposed scholar will be embedded within McElwain’s Plant-Atmosphere research group in the School of Natural Sciences and undertake highly complimentary research and training with an ongoing ERC Advanced project – TERRAFORM.
Project 2
Abstract:
Our daily lives consist of a series of decisions. Some of these decisions are big, such as choosing what course to
take in college, but most of them are so small that we barely notice we are making them such as when crossing
the road, detecting moving objects or identifying the colour of a flower. These simple ‘perceptual decisions’ are
essential to our ability to engage in everyday tasks and difficulties in making them can have major consequences.
But how exactly do we make these kinds of decisions? While we may feel that we make perceptual decisions in an
instant, in reality, research has established that the brain goes through a gradual process of sampling and
accumulating evidence for even our simplest choices. But beyond this basic insight, many questions about the
brain’s decision making mechanisms remain unanswered. How does the brain enable us to represent our confidence in a decision?
How are those representations influenced by our pre-existing knowledge of the world?
What regions of the brain are central to making decisions and judging confidence? Do changes in our alertness
impact on our confidence judgments? My PhD aims to answer each of these questions through a set of
laboratory experiments in which participants will make perceptual decisions while we record their brain activity.
In addition to reporting their choices on each trial, participants will also be asked to indicate their confidence in
those choices on a three-point scale: "maybe," "probably," and "certainly." I will use electroencephalography
(EEG) and magnetoencephalography (MEG) to record neural signatures of decision making as they evolve with
millisecond precision. Furthermore, we will alter participants’ arousal levels by applying tiny electrical currents to
their scalp, and test for changes in decision making accuracy and confidence.
Studying these processes will help us better understand how people make decisions, and how they can improve
their strategies in decision making and metacognition. By uncovering the factors influencing decision confidence,
this research can contribute to improving decision-making processes in various domains, from healthcare to
education.
In summary, our project is designed to bring insights on complex relationships between decision-making,
confidence, awareness in one's own abilities and expectations regarding tasks and abilities of other people.
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Please contact us at global.scholarships@tcd.ie if you have any queries.
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