The announcement at UCC on May 17th 2010 will involve 105 researchers working across a range of areas including cystic fibrosis, genetics, bacterial and viral infections, environmental monitoring, food safety, and streaming media over wireless networks.
The 47 research projects are being funded under Science Foundation
Ireland’s Research Frontiers Programme.
Funding covers a three to four-year period at University College Cork
including Tyndall National Institute, University College Dublin; Trinity
College Dublin; NUI Galway; Dublin City University; NUI Maynooth; Royal College
of Surgeons in Ireland; University of Limerick; Dublin Institute for Advanced
Studies; and Institute of Technology, Tallaght, Dublin.
Minister O’Keeffe said the research areas are “profoundly linked to our health
and wellbeing and the researchers’ work will generate high-value downstream
jobs”. “The €8.5 million investment will create jobs and training opportunities for
105 researchers, mainly PhD students, and their work will in turn generate new
jobs down the line which will have significant implications for our well-being
as a nation,” said Minister O’Keeffe.
The programme supports internationally-competitive, high-quality exploratory
research in higher education across the science, maths and engineering
disciplines.
“By helping researchers at a relatively early stage in their work, the programme
is targeting our most promising scientists in building their research teams and
track records and enhancing our competitiveness,” said Minister O’Keeffe.
Director General of Science Foundation Ireland, Professor Frank Gannon, said:
“The Government’s goal of becoming a hub for international research is further
advanced by this Research Frontiers Programme investment.
“Ireland’s performance in the fields of scientific and engineering research is
directly linked to our future competitiveness and our quest for a measurable
transformation to the smart economy. Last year, the Research Frontiers
Programme resulted in many notable outcomes such as 88 collaborations with 83
companies, 715 academic collaborations, and 537 scientific papers.
“The programme has contributed to Ireland’s rapid ascent in the ranking of
scientific output, rising from 36th place in 2003 to recently breaking into the
top 20. Ireland has joined countries such as Finland, Germany and the US in the
scientific output stakes,” Professor Gannon concluded.
More information on the Research Frontiers Programme is available at http://www.sfi.ie
Picture: The Minister for Enterprise, Trade and Innovation, Batt O’Keeffe TD, with Dr Aileen Houston of the UCC APC Lab and Dr Elizabeth Brint of UCC at the announcement of €8.5m for 47 research projects.
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