Richard Fitzgerald

Richard Fitzgerald was involved in research and development in aquaculture for almost 30 years. Richard was one of the founding fathers of AquaTT, set up in 1992, and proved to be a seminal figure in the company’s early years. Richard helped submit the application for EU funding to establish the company, and was also the first chairman on the board.

Due to Richard’s prolific work, he was appointed to the Irish Aquaculture Licensing Appeals Board in 1998. He joined the National University of Ireland, Galway (NUIG) in 2006 as a senior research fellow, and shortly after became research co-ordinator and manager of the NUIG aquaculture research lab at Carna until the end of 2015, managing large-scale projects, personnel and the facility itself.

He was also extremely interested in natural freshwater and marine fish populations, with a rare and extensive knowledge in both aquatic environments developed over the span of his career. He published over thirty peer reviewed publications, which are widely cited.

Richard was an excellent researcher, a gifted and inspiring lecturer and extremely generous with his time, especially with students and colleagues.

Richard passed away on December 5th, 2016, following a short illness at University Hospital, Galway.

To honour the legacy Richard left behind, it was decided to create an award in his honour. Sponsored by AquaTT, the Richard Fitzgerald award consists of a prize for best poster in Aquatic Environment. 

This eponymous award was awarded for the first time in 2017. Richard was one of the founding fathers of AquaTT acting as the first chairman of the company and serving on the board regularly for 20 years. He passed away shortly before Christmas 2016. To commemorate the life and legacy of such an important figure in AquaTT’s history, the award was set up to honour his legacy.

Richard Fitzgerald Award Winners

2024

Alexander Savelev

DCU

"Detection of PMT Chemicals in Environmental Samples via SPE and HPLC Analysis"

2023

Nicolé Caputo

ATU Galway

"Doom and Bloom: past, present, and future perspectives of Harmful Algal Blooms in Irish waters."

2022 

Damir Akhmetshin

SETU Carlow (formlery IT Carlow)

"Unmanned aerial vehicles for mapping seaweed: RGB and multispectral sensors"

Damir presented at Environ 2022, 32^nd Irish Environmental Researchers Colloquium co-hosted by ESAI and Ulster University and held in Ulster University Belfast Campus on 20^th-22^nd June 2022. The conference theme was ‘Unlocking Sustainability’ and over 120 oral and poster presentations were delivered over the three day event.

Damir received a €250 prize proudly sponsored by AquaTT for his poster.

2021

Tapiwa Nyakauru

Waterford Institute of Technology

"An investigation into the genomic and proteomic effects of heavy metal exposure to the hyperaccumulator plants Eichhornia crassipes and Pistia stratiotes"

Due to COVID-19 restrictions, the Environ conference was held virtually for the second time this year, and was attended by 235 delegates. The conference took place from June 16th-18th with over 45 posters presented as part of a total of 150 presentations.

Tapiwa received a €250 prize proudly sponsored by AquaTT for his poster.

2020

Jayne Stephens

University College Dublin

"Tide: A driver of faecal indicator bacteria levels in bathing waters"

Due to COVID-19 restrictions, the Environ 2020 conference was held online from 20-22nd October 2020. Jayne Stephens, PhD student at the School of Biomolecular and Biomedical Sciences in University College Dublin.

Jayne received a €250 prize proudly sponsored by AquaTT for her poster.

2019

Raymond Wilson

University of Ulster

"Environmental change in Ireland’s small marl lakes"

The winner of the 2019 Richard Fitzgerald Aquatic Environment Poster Award was presented to Raymond Wilson at Environ 2019: 29th Annual Researchers Colloquium, which was held on 15-17 April 2019 in IT Carlow. Raymond, a researcher from University of Ulster, received a €250 prize proudly sponsored by AquaTT for his poster entitled “Environmental change in Ireland’s small marl lakes”. Information on his project can be found here; Environmental Change in Ireland’s Small Marl Lakes

2018

James O'Connor

Galway-Mayo Institute of Technology

"Potential pathways, trophic transfer and bioindicators of microplastics within freshwater systems".