Ninth Level Ireland

“Minister for Further and Higher Education, Research, Innovation and Science Simon Harris TD today (Friday) launched a national public consultation to hear people’s views on the future of Ireland as a world leader in research and innovation. The aim of the public consultation is to develop the next National Research and Innovation Strategy which will build the capacity and capability of the research and innovation system to tackle the big issues facing our country …” (more)

[Merrion Street, 11 June]

“Sinn Féin spokesperson on Further and Higher Education, Research, Innovation and Science, Rose Conway-Walsh TD, has said there is a ‘window of opportunity’ to use the powerful lever of Horizon funding to pressurise Israel to end its apartheid regime. Teachta Conway-Walsh said …” (more)

[Sinn Féin, 26 May]

“Gerald Nash (Louth, Labour): To ask the Minister for Education and Skills the funding that has been allocated for spending on grants and supports and structural funding for blue sky research in higher education institutions in each of the years 2019 to 2021; and if he will make a statement on the matter …” (more)

[Dail written answers, 19 May]

“Minister for Further and Higher Education, Research, Innovation and Science Simon Harris TD has today (Friday 7 May) announced €23 million in funding for a programme for post-doctoral researchers to become research leaders. The investment, which is a joint initiative between Science Foundation Ireland (SFI) and the Irish Research Council (IRC), will see some 40 early career researchers, across all disciplines, supported to develop cutting-edge projects through awards of up to €550,000 over a four-year period …” (more)

[gov.ie, 6 May]

“Trinity College Dublin will begin researching sustainable aviation fuels and zero-carbon flying with the aid of €1.5 million from Ryanair. The airline and the university said on Thursday that the Ryanair Sustainable Aviation Research Centre at Trinity would work on sustainable aviation fuel, zero carbon aircraft propulsion and noise mapping …” (more)

[Barry O’Halloran, Irish Times, 29 April]

“Research-intensive university groups representing 77 universities across Europe have signed a joint statement urging the European Union not to restrict access for associated countries, such as the United Kingdom, Switzerland and Israel, to parts of its multi-billion-euro Horizon Europe research programme, including those covering space and quantum projects …” (more)

[Brendan O’Malley, University World News, 23 April]

“IUA welcome the announcement of 29 innovative research projects awarded under the third round of the Disruptive Technologies Innovation Fund by Minister for Enterprise, Trade and Employment Leo Varadkar today. This Fund, established under Project Ireland 2040, drives collaboration between Ireland’s world-class research base in the higher education sector with industry …” (more)

[IUA, 22 April]

“The Government is investing €9 million to boost the research capacity of technological universities and institutes of technology in the area of science and technology. The move will include the funding of replacement lecturers for academics involved in successful research applications, as well as between 20 and 40 PhD students overall …” (more)

[Carl O’Brien, Irish Times, 15 April]

“Minister for Further and Higher Education, Research, Innovation and Science Simon Harris TD has today (Thursday) announced details of the Science Foundation Ireland Frontiers for Partnership Awards programme, which aims through an investment of €9 million to increase research capacity within Technological Universities (TUs) and Institutes of Technology (IoTs) …” (more)

[MerrionStreet.ie, 15 April]

“Pádraig O’Sullivan (Cork North Central, Fianna Fail): To ask the Minister for Education and Skills the number of applications for SFI funded PhDs in the past five years; the number of awards that were granted; the trends for both the applications and the awards; if this trend was caused by a funding issue; and if he will make a statement on the matter …” (more)

[Dáil written answers, 31 March]

“Neale Richmond (Dublin Rathdown, Fine Gael): To ask the Minister for Education and Skills if he has considered a proposal by an organisation (details supplied) for an all-island initiative to promote humanities research on the island; and if he will make a statement on the matter …” (more)

[Dáil written answers, 31 March]

“Horizon Europe, the European Union’s new research and investment programme – the biggest programme ever undertaken in Europe – has been launched today. The new multidisciplinary programme will run until 2027 and will be backed by a budget of over €95 billion …” (more)

[RTÉ News, 25 March]

“I realised today that I hadn’t yet posted a reaction to the announcement earlier this month by Science Foundation Ireland (SFI) of a new five-year strategic plan. Although much of the document Shaping Our Future is fairly bland – as strategic plans usually are – there are some very welcome things in it …” (more)

[In the Dark, 21 March]

“Science has demonstrated its capacity to deliver in responding to Covid-19. Effective vaccines were developed in a less than a year while scientists contributed hugely to the global response to the pandemic. At the same time, the sector now has a place at the Cabinet table via minister Simon Harris and his new Department of Further and Higher Education, Research, Innovation and Science …” (more)

[Irish Times, 4 February]

“Rose Conway-Walsh (Mayo, Sinn Fein): To ask the Minister for Education and Skills the public expenditure on research and development and as a percentage in each year since 2008; and if he will make a statement on the matter …” (more)

[Dáil written answers, 25 February]

“Minister for Further and Higher Education, Research, Innovation and Science, Simon Harris has today announced an investment of €193 million in five Science Foundation Ireland Research Centres for six years. Lero, the SFI Research Centre for Software, led by University of Limerick (UL) and ADAPT, a SFI research centre for AI-Driven Digital Content Technology led by Trinity College Dublin in partnership with Munster Technological University (MTU) and other universities and institutes of technology across the country are among those to benefit …” (more)

[Nicole Glennon, Irish Examiner, 1 February]

“The State is to invest €193 million over six years into research on cybersecurity, artificial intelligence, ethics and data privacy, smart medical devices, e-health and telecommunications. Announcing the €193 million investment in five Science Foundation Ireland (SFI) research centres, Minister for Further and Higher Education Simon Harris said it reflected Ireland’s position as a world leader in research and innovation …” (more)

[Marie O’Halloran, Irish Times, 1 February]

“The EU-UK trade and cooperation agreement, commonly known as the ‘Brexit deal’, has been welcomed by the UK and EU research communities, as it states the political will to continue close scientific cooperation under Horizon Europe, the 9th European research programme. The terms and conditions to join the programme as an associated member still need to be negotiated and agreed. However, the Brexit deal puts an end to a climate of uncertainty for UK-based researchers that started in June 2016 with the Brexit vote in the middle of Horizon 2020, Horizon Europe’s predecessor …” (more)

[Marco Cavallaro, LSE, 26 January]

“Before Christmas, Ireland’s new Department for Further and Higher Education, Research, Innovation and Science embarked on a consultation about its strategy for 2021-23. Like most other departments, the Department of Theoretical Physics at Maynooth made a collective submission to this consultation and we await further developments …” (more)

[In the Dark, 4 January]

“The end of this year marks the close of the European Union’s massive 2014–20 research programme, Horizon 2020. Over the past six years, more than 150,000 participants – including research institutes, companies and individual scientists – have collectively received almost €60 billion (US$73.5 billion) in research funding …” (more)

[Quirin Schiermeier, Nature, 22 December]