“Leading scholars and publishers from ten countries have agreed a definition of predatory publishing that can protect scholarship. It took 12 hours of discussion, 18 questions and 3 rounds to reach …” (more)
[Nature, 11 December]
“Irish universities have secured six out of just over 300 lucrative European research grants which are awarded to the continent’s top scientists and scholars. The Irish performance is an improvement on the last round when there was just a single European Research Council (ERC) grant winner from Ireland …” (more)
[Carl O’Brien, Irish Times, 10 December]
“Twelve successful applicants representing Academic Institutions from across all regions have secured funding for their projects
Speaking ahead of a special Cabinet meeting on jobs in Trim, Co Meath, Minister for Business, Enterprise and Innovation, Heather Humphreys TD and Minister for Education and Skills Joe McHugh TD today announced the results of the Regional Technology Clustering Fund, the first annual competitive fund of its kind …” (more)
[DBEI, 6 December]
“Being able to find, assess and place new research within a field of knowledge, is integral to any research project. For social scientists this process is increasingly likely to take place on Google Scholar, closely followed by traditional scholarly databases. In this post, Alberto Martín-Martín, Enrique Orduna-Malea, Mike Thelwall, Emilio Delgado-López-Cózar, analyse the relative coverage of the three main research databases, Google Scholar, Web of Science and Scopus, finding significant divergences in the social sciences and humanities and suggest that researchers face a trade-off when using different databases: between more comprehensive, but disorderly systems and orderly, but limited systems …” (more)
[LSE Impact Blog, 3 December]
“Irish students remain among the best readers in the developed world, an assessment of almost 600,000 students has found. However, ‘a challenge remains’ in supporting students to achieve the highest scores in maths and science, with relative improvements to be made in both subjects …” (more)
[Jess Casey, Irish Examiner, 3 December]
“Teenagers in Ireland are among the top performers in the world in reading literacy, according to latest international standardised test scores. Irish 15-year-olds also perform above average in science and maths, according to the Pisa (Programme for International Student Assessment) test results which were conducted last year …” (more)
[Carl O’Brien, Irish Times, 3 December]
“What’s wrong with being called gutsy? The new book by Hillary and Chelsea Clinton use it as a term of approbation, but it didn’t find favour with Emma Brockes in the Guardian. Why? ‘It’s partly that descriptors like “gutsy” seem to protest too much, partly that they feel slightly infantilising, and mainly, I think, that they have become disembodied marketing terms used to launder self-promotion as somehow socially useful’ …” (more)
[Athene Donald’s Blog, 27 November]
“In the news here in Ireland this week is a new report from a Committee of the Houses of the Oireachtas making the case for Ireland to join CERN. You can download the report here (PDF) and you’ll find this rather striking graphic …” (more)
[In the Dark, 16 November]
“Ireland should join Cern, the European Organisation for Nuclear Research, if ambition to be a global leader in innovation is to be realised, the Oireachtas Committee on Business, Enterprise and Innovation has strongly recommended. Based outside Geneva in Switzerland, Cern is one of the world’s leading scientific laboratories. Its primary focus is on particle physics but it also plays a vital role in developing the technology of tomorrow …” (more)
[Kevin O’Sullivan, Irish Times, 14 November]
“Just a quick post to highlight the fact that December 15th marks the deadline for submission of abstracts for the 4th International Conference on the History of Physics. The meeting marks the fourth in a biennial series of conferences that aims to bring together historians of science and physicists with an interest in the history of their subject and will take place at Trinity College Dublin on June 17th-19th …” (more)
[Cormac O’ Raifeartaigh, Antimatter, 13 November]
“The Joint Committee on Business, Enterprise and Innovation is today recommending Ireland seek associate membership of CERN, the European Organisation for Nuclear Research, as soon as possible. (It is necessary to join as an associate member before a country can move towards full membership.) In its report launched today, The Case for Irish Membership of CERN, the Committee says that associate membership would bring scientific benefits and direct economic returns for Ireland …” (more)
[Houses of the Oireachtas, 13 November]
“Fianna Fáil Spokesperson on Science, Technology, Research and Development, James Lawless has said that if Ireland is to be a real player in the international science community, membership of the European Organisation for Nuclear Research (CERN) is key …” (more)
[Fianna Fáil, 12 November]
“Irish universities have purchased over 46,000 live animals for research use between 2017 and 2018, with Trinity and University College Cork (UCC) far surpassing the national average. According to records released to Trinity News under the Freedom of Information Act 2014, University College Cork (UCC) purchased 22,946 live animals in total in 2017 and 2018 for use in research, while Trinity purchased 17,038 between October 2016 and October 2018, a significantly higher number than purchases made by other universities around the country …” (more)
[Lauren Boland, Trinity News, 7 November]
“You’ll have heard the story about women whingeing about how their proudly-submitted papers got rejected by a premier journal without being sent out to referees. Or that the comments they received from referees were unduly harsh, but a male colleague’s paper got through on the nod without multiple resubmissions. Just a bunch of females having a moan wasn’t it because they can’t hack it? Well, no. Turns out they (we) were right …” (more)
[Athene Donald’s Blog, 6 November]
“A stark gender gap between boys’ and girls’ schools in the number and choice of Stem subjects they offer their pupils is shown in new figures. While there is universal uptake in maths, and biology is popular among female pupils, other Stem subjects don’t get the same look-in at girls-only schools …” (more)
[Katherine Donnelly, Independent, 4 November]
“Ireland ranks 13th out of 23 European countries when it comes to pay levels for graduates with a bachelor’s degree. Those leaving college here can expect to earn around €31,075, just over a quarter more than the average salary of someone who finishes their education after secondary school. The figures come in a report from insurance and consulting group Willis Towers Watson …” (more)
[Ellie Donnelly, Independent, 25 October]
“Maureen O’Sullivan (Dublin Central, Independent): To ask the Minister for Education and Skills the action he has taken on the reports that UCC and Trinity College Dublin have been involved in experimentation on thousands of live animals each year; and his plans to deal with banning vivisection …” (more)
[Dáil written answers, 23 October]
“Trinity has purchased 17,038 live animals for use in research between October 2016 and September 2018 for use in biomedical studies, with a drop of nearly 40% in the number of animals purchased in 2017/2018 compared to the previous year …” (more)
[Lauren Boland, Trinity News, 15 October]
“John Henry Newman, the founder and first rector of the Catholic University of Ireland, the precursor of University College Dublin, will be canonized by Pope Francis in Rome today. It will be a major milestone in the academic history of University College Dublin …” (more)
[John Kelly, Independent, 13 October]
“Catherine Connolly (Galway West, Independent): To ask the Minister for Jobs, Enterprise and Innovation the amount of funding her Department provided to Science Foundation Ireland in 2017, 2018 and 2019, in tabular form; and if she will make a statement on the matter …” (more)
[Dáil written answers, 8 October]
