 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |  |  |
 |
Faculties & Departments
Department of Biology
Martin J. Downes, M.Agr.Sc., Ph.D. (NUI), F.I.Biol.I.
Population Ecology
Professor Martin J. Downes
- Tel: (353-1) 708 3837; Fax: (353-1) 708 3845
- martin.downes@nuim.ie
- Institute of Bioengineering and Agroecology
Martin J. Downes, M.Agr.Sc., Ph.D. (NUI), F.I.Biol.I.
Interests
Fundamental and applied aspects of biological control of pest and pathogen populations. This includes studies of predatory mites, fungi and entomopathogenic nematodes, studies of which give rise to understanding of fundamental aspects of how genetic and geographic biotype boundaries are created and maintained, recognition of components of ecological competence which are important in the success of biological control agents, and to new organisms for better commercial biological control.
His teaching and public service interests include bioethics in Science courses, rural development, and advancement of teaching & research in developing countries.
Short curriculum vitae
A graduate in Agricultural Science, he took the PhD in ecological aspects of plant pathology. He joined the academic staff of the Faculty of Agriculture at University College Dublin and in 1970 moved from there to become Assistant Head of Agricultural Programming at Radió Telefís Éireann where he broadcast on the entry of Ireland's largely agricultural economy entering the Common Market (now the European Union), while maintaining his academic interests. In this period also he introduced coverage of neolithic and other early farming communities to Irish agricultural television.
In 1973 he was appointed to faculty at the new Department of Biology at Maynooth where he became Associate Professor in 1975, developing his research and both undergraduate and postgraduate programmes in ecology. Recognising that major biotechnological advances would change cropping impacts on the environment and cause dislocation in both food acceptability and security, he developed his research in non-chemical management of agricultural systems. He was Founding Director of the Institute of Bioengineering and Agroecology at NUI Maynooth. He carried out ecological crop research in Indonesia under the EU Framework programme and made study visits to Cambodia, Laois, Thailand, Tanzania, Kenya and Zambia. He served as APSO specialist in relation to potato crops in Belize.
His research has been funded competitively, mainly by the European Union Framework Programmes, the Irish Department of Agriculture & Fisheries, COFORD, Enterprise Ireland and the Irish Higher Education Authority.
He retired from faculty at NUI Maynooth in September 2006 and was appointed Professor Emeritus there, at the Department of Biology. He now pursues research interests in paleo records of genetic and environmental change and carries out more limited teaching. Mainly through Irish Aid, he pursues his interest in adaptive responses to food security challenges in the pre-industrial farming systems of the world.