2019
€100 million investment in new SFI Centres for Research Training
700 postgraduate students to be trained in digital, data and ICT skills for the future.
Minister for Business, Enterprise and Innovation, Heather Humphreys TD and Minister of State for Training, Skills, Innovation, Research and Development, John Halligan TD, today announced an investment of over €100 million in six new SFI Centres for Research Training.
The SFI Centres for Research Training programme, the first postgraduate training programme run by SFI, will provide training for 700 postgraduate students in areas of nationally and internationally identified future skills needs of digital, data and ICT and are now open to applicants.
The six SFI Centres for Research Training are:
- SFI Centre for Research Training in Artificial Intelligence
Prof Barry O’Sullivan (UCC), Prof Tiziana Margaria (UL), Dr Ivana Dusparic (TCD), Dr Derek Bridge (UCC), Dr Suzanne Little (DCU), Dr Paul Buitelaar (NUIG).
- SFI Centre for Research Training in Advanced Networks for Sustainable Societies
Prof Dirk Pesch (UCC), Prof John Barrett (CIT), Dr Deirdre Desmond (MU) Prof Siobhán Clarke (TCD), Prof Max Ammann (TU Dublin), Prof Cormac Sreenan (UCC).
- SFI Centre for Research Training in Genomics Data Science
Prof Cathal Seoighe (NUIG), Dr Eva Szegezdi (NUIG), Prof Denis Shields (UCD), Prof Gianpiero Cavalleri (RCSI), Prof Pavel Baranov (UCC), Prof Aoife McLysaght (TCD).
- SFI Centre for Research Training in Machine Learning
Dr Brian McNamee (UCD), Dr Georgiana Ifrim (UCD), Prof Sarah Jane Delany (TU Dublin), Prof Noel O’Connor (DCU).
- SFI Centre for Research Training in Digitally Enhanced Reality
Prof Carol O’Sullivan (TCD), Prof Vincent Wade (TCD), Prof John Kelleher (TU Dublin), Prof Alan Smeaton (DCU), Prof Peter Corcoran (NUIG), Prof Julie Berndsen (UCD).
- SFI Centre for Research Training in Foundations of Data Science
Prof James Gleeson (UL), Dr Claire Gormley (UCD), Prof Ken Duffy (MU).
The centres will generate strong collaborations between research and industry, with partnerships across Higher Education Institutions including University College Dublin (UCD), Technological University of Dublin (TUD), Dublin City University (DCU), Trinity College Dublin (TCD), Cork Institute of Technology (CIT), University College Cork (UCC), Maynooth University (MU), University of Limerick (UL), NUI Galway (NUIG), Tyndall National Institute (TNI) and the Royal College of Surgeons Ireland (RCSI).
The first SFI Centres for Research Training will focus on ‘Data and ICT Skills for the Future’, an area highlighted by the Government’s Future Jobs initiative, which prepares for the future economy by investing in innovative, disruptive technologies.
Professor Mark Ferguson, Director General of Science Foundation Ireland and Chief Scientific Adviser to the Government of Ireland, said: “The level of investment in this programme is significant and demonstrates SFI’s commitment to ensuring that future generations of Irish PhD students are well-trained in the important field of data analytics and its application to business, health and agriculture.
Teams of excellent researchers in Irish higher education institutions have teamed up with industrial collaborators and international partners to develop outstanding national programmes of research and training in digital, data and ICT skills - the future of both the economy and society.”
For more information on the SFI Centres for Research Training programme, visit: http://www.sfi.ie/funding/funding-calls/centres-for-res-training/