Teagasc unveil winners of Visions of Research and Innovation photo competition 2025

The winning image was taken by taken by Fiona Hutton, Teagasc Plant Pathology Research Laboratory Manager currently working at the Department of Crops, Environment and Land Use, Oak Park. This photograph, taken at the Crops and Technology Open Day 2025, shows a flowering phacelia cover crop alive with pollinators such as this bumblebee, an example of how good soil management and biodiversity can thrive together. The TillageCare project is helping to show how practices such as cover cropping and the use of organic manures can improve soil health, store more carbon, and reduce nutrient losses to water. By combining research, farmer experience, and data from real fields, the project supports industry and policymakers in developing a roadmap towards climate-neutral Irish crop production.

The photo competition, which has been running since 2015, is open to all Teagasc staff and students with entrants aiming to visually capture the wide variety of research innovations related to their area of work.

 

This year’s competition attracted 82 image entries, with the top 12 selected for an exhibition held in Teagasc Head Office in Oak Park House last week, organised as part of the Teagasc Science Week activities.  Attendees at the event were also treated to a guided tour of the historical building and former home of MP Henry Bruen.

The 12 winning images featured in the exhibition were;

• “Mosaic of flavor” by Digvijay Digvijay & Prabin Lamichhane
• “Sheep at sunset – Achill Bay” by Raquel Caetano Ferreira
• “No Climbing on the Timber Stacks” by Derek Gibson
• “Culturable Fungal Diversity Associated with Common Alder” by Emma Fuller
• “Bee the Change” by Fiona Hutton
• “A tree with a future” by Frances McHugh
• “From grass to glass” by Andre Brodkorb
• “Bees weaving life’s threads on a globe thistle” by Mariana Macas & Barbara Biduski
• “A kaleidoscope of colour – eating with our eyes” by Katie Hetherington
• “Clover, Methane and Sheep” by Eoin Dunne
• “Hidden Allies: Macrofungi and forest health” by Dheeraj Rathore
• “Icing on the Cage” by Maximilian Schughart

These images will be included in the annual Teagasc calendar which will be delivered to stakeholders before Christmas.

This year’s Vision of Research and Innovation photography competition was judged by a panel comprising Catriona Boyle, Teagasc, editor of TResearch magazine; Ronan Bree, Dundalk Institute of Technology, Science Lecturer & Project Manager; and Chaosheng Zhang, University of Galway, Professor of Geography.

Speaking at the event, Teagasc Director, Professor Frank O’Mara welcomed the attendees to the event and congratulated all the finalists on the quality of the images they captured through the course of their work.

The Vision of Research exhibition at Teagasc Head Office is part of Science Week at Teagasc, which ran from November 9-16, 2025.