Pioneering Trinity ecologist wins IRC Early Career Researcher of the Year
Posted on: 06 December 2019
Pioneering ecologist, Dr Jeremy J Piggott, Assistant Professor in Zoology in Trinity College Dublin’s School of Natural Sciences and Centre for Environment, has won the prestigious 2019 Irish Research Council Early Career Researcher of the Year award.
Dr Piggott’s research focuses on understanding how climate and land-use related stressors interact to affect biodiversity and the function of freshwater ecosystems, and on prioritising management interventions to safeguard these ecosystems.
Dr Piggott said:
“It is my great honour to receive this award as an early-career environmental scientist researching threats to ecosystems in a rapidly changing world. Freshwaters provide essential services to humans but are one of the world’s most degraded and threatened ecosystems.”
“Climate change and its impacts are likely to become the dominant driver of biodiversity loss and changes in ecosystem functioning by the end of this century, but how the drivers of climate change will interact with the multiple stressors that already impact ecosystems remains one of the largest uncertainties in projections of future biodiversity change.”
“By understanding the underlying mechanisms driving these interactions and connecting science and policy we will be in a better position to manage, conserve, or even restore damaged ecosystems in the face of global change.”
One of Dr Piggott’s most innovative pieces of research led to the creation of an experimental mesocosm system that enables researchers to disentangle the individual and combined effects of different stressors in running waters. The ExStream System is a powerful field research facility which allows researchers to strictly control experimental variables in a highly realistic setting.
His work led to a spin-out company (ExStream Systems Ltd) and the construction of ExStream Systems in New Zealand, Germany, Ireland, China, Japan, and the UK.
The societal impact of Dr Piggott’s research is highlighted by his discovery that fine sediment is a ‘master stressor’ in stream ecosystems where agricultural stressors and climate change drivers exacerbate its impacts. The management implications of this research have been subsequently recognised in New Zealand’s National Policy Statement for Freshwater Management, EPA Ireland’s freshwater research and management priorities, and policy recommendations from the UN’s Intergovernmental Platform on Biodiversity and Ecosystem Services (IPBES).
Additionally, Dr Piggott also holds an IRC Starting Laureate Award and supervises a total of 14 Hon Research, MSc, PhD, Postdoctoral Researchers and Research Assistants. He is the sole Irish-funded partner on AQUACOSM+, which is a €10m H2020 INFRAIA project for the Network of Leading Ecosystem Scale Experimental AQUAtic MesoCOSM Facilities Connecting Rivers, Lakes, Estuaries and Oceans in Europe and beyond.
Professor Linda Doyle, Dean of Research at Trinity, said:
“The Irish Research Council Early Career Researcher of the Year Award is a real mark of excellence and underlines the exceptional contribution that Dr Piggott – who is also known for his dedication to teaching and supervising the next generation of scientists – has already made to his field of research.”
“We are living in a rapidly changing world in which innovation and rigorous scientific research will hold the key to conserving our planet and protecting the vital services it provides us all. We are all very proud of Dr Piggott’s success and are eager to see how his future research will continue to make significant societal impact by influencing management of our freshwaters, which comprise some of the world’s most degraded and threatened ecosystems.”