Mary Immaculate College (MIC) is leading a major new Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) funded research project exploring biodiversity, climate resilience and sustainable management of Ireland’s offshore island environments.
The four-year Leveraging Island Lighthouses and Harnessing Technology (LIGHTHOUSE) project was launched at the Irish Lights Headquarters in Dublin on Tuesday, 21 April. The initiative brings together a national and international research team, with MIC as lead partner, working alongside Queen’s University Belfast, University College Dublin, the National Parks and Wildlife Service and Irish Lights.
The project focuses on six remote offshore islands—Bull Rock, Inishtrahull, Inistearaght, Mew Island, Rockabill and Slyne Head—all owned by Irish Lights and home to globally important seabird populations. These sites will act as natural observatories to better understand environmental change and support biodiversity protection.
Led by MIC, the research will combine geospatial mapping, seabird monitoring and heritage analysis to examine how former lighthouse infrastructure can be adapted to support nature-positive outcomes. The work will also contribute to national priorities around biodiversity recovery and the development of Marine Protected Areas.
Professor Catherine Dalton, Project Lead at MIC, said:
“These offshore islands are among Ireland’s last truly wild places. By mapping them in detail and reimagining lighthouse heritage for nature, we can better protect their biodiversity and understand how they’re responding to a changing climate."
The LIGHTHOUSE project is funded by the Environmental Protection Agency under its ‘project and restore’ research theme and will generate important baseline data to inform future conservation and sustainability strategies for offshore environments.
Announcing the project, Roni Hawe, Director of the Office of Evidence and Assessment at the EPA, said:
“Ireland’s ecosystems are facing significant pressures, from climate change, pollution and other environmental factors. Offshore islands are among our most fragile ecosystems, and the EPA-funded LIGHTHOUSE project will provide the scientific foundation needed to protect biodiversity, understand environmental change and guide sustainable decision making for years to come."
