Post-Covid-19 funding will go to projects that make Ireland sustainable and resilient

Millions of euros in research funding awarded to Ireland by an EU recovery programme will be spent on projects to tackle societal and environmental challenges.

Science Foundation Ireland (SFI), the country’s biggest public research funder, will oversee the distribution of €65 million under Ireland’s National Challenge Fund, which will pay for an initial 26 research teams in the first round. 

The money comes from the EU’s Recovery and Resilience fund, established to address the impacts of the coronavirus pandemic and make EU societies more resilient and sustainable.

Over a series of challenges and funding calls, SFI will fund around 90 research teams with up to €250,000 over 18 months to develop ideas using a “solutions-focused approach”, the agency said. In the first funding call, the successful teams will focus on two challenges for Ireland: climate change and new technologies. 

Challenges

The climate challenge will aim to help Ireland reach its net zero goal by 2050, with funded projects looking at ways of reducing carbon emissions, making greener energy cheaper and more easily available, enabling more efficient energy storage, and mitigating the effects of climate change on communities. 

The technology challenge focuses on helping Ireland make better use of disruptive technologies, such as machine learning and artificial intelligence.

The winning projects will research ways of automating industry, managing transport infrastructure, improving medicine production, modelling threats to our health and environment, testing data from wearable devices and telemedicine, as well as social issues such as employment and the quality of our connection with the local environment.

Mairead McGuinness, EU commissioner for the environment and public health, welcomed the funding announcement. “The emphasis on research and innovation will support ongoing work on the green and digital transitions, and so it will help create a more sustainable future,” she said. 

“I wish all the teams much success with their research that will bring benefits to the whole of the EU. We are stronger together.”

In the coming years, the research teams will continue to compete for funding, the SFI said, with available follow-on funding of up to €500,000, before a final round of prizes worth between €1 million and €2 million.

New Foundations

The announcement of the SFI funds came the same week as another societal challenge-based spending bonanza by the Irish Research Council, Ireland’s other national funding agency.

Under the IRC’s New Foundations programme, 67 projects will each receive between €9,000 and €20,000 to tackle societal challenges and policy issues, such as carbon budgeting, mental health care, hearing loss, immigrant integration in Ireland, and hydropower capacity.

The successful projects will split funding of about €875,000, with some co-funding from government agencies and charities.

Commenting on the funding announcement, Louise Callinan, the director of the IRC, said that “while New Foundations awards are relatively modest in value, they play a vital role in supporting and nurturing our research talent, providing an important step on the funding ladder to further awards nationally and internationally”.

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Irish scientist is among four women commemorated on International Day of Women and Girls in Science

Four statues honouring influential women were unveiled in Trinity College Dublin’s Old Library last week, on the UN’s International Day of Women and Girls in Science.

The statues, representing scientist Rosalind Franklin, folklorist, dramatist and theatre-founder Augusta Gregory, mathematician Ada Lovelace and women’s rights advocate Mary Wollstonecraft, now sit alongside 40 marble sculptures of men such as Homer, Shakespeare, Sir Rowan Hamilton and Dean Jonathan Swift. They are displayed within the library’s Long Room, which is a major tourist attraction in Dublin.

The addition of the women represents “a first step toward a better representation of our diversity in all of Trinity’s public spaces”, said the university in a statement.

The four women commemorated were chosen in 2020 from a pool of over 500 women nominated by staff, students and alumni of Trinity. The four sculptures, created by artists Maudie Brady, Rowan Gillespie, Vera Klute and Guy Reid, were commissioned in 2021.

Breaking tradition

Trinity College Dublin’s provost Linda Doyle said: “While it is important to respect tradition, it is also important to break tradition. The addition of these sculptures of women has been a long time coming. I want to thank everyone involved in the creation and installation of these beautiful pieces.

“Sculptures are an iconic feature of Trinity’s Long Room, and I hope the inclusion of these four outstanding women is the furthering of a collective recognition of the incredible contribution of women across many fields,” she added.

Speaking at the launch of the sculptures, the university’s chancellor, Mary McAleese, said that “visitors to the Long Room will, we hope, come away with a new appreciation of the scholarship of women”.

The installation is one of the changes the university is making as it re-examines its legacy issues and considers how to be more inclusive. Over the past two months, 90 submissions were made on a proposal to rename Trinity College Dublin’s Berkeley Library, which is used by students and staff to remove links to philosopher George Berkeley, who was a slave owner.

The proposal is currently being considered by a working group tasked with looking at legacy issues within the university.

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This week: software research in Limerick, postgraduate numbers and delayed review of PhD funding

In depth: Millions of euros in research funding awarded to Ireland by an EU recovery programme will be spent on two separate tools to tackle societal and environmental challenges.

Full story: Ireland to spend millions of euros on tackling societal challenges

Also this week from Research Professional News

Trinity’s Long Room honours influential women in history—Irish scientist is among four women commemorated on International Day of Women and Girls in Science

Here is the rest of the Irish news this week…

Postdoctoral programme in software research

Lero, a software research centre based at the University of Limerick, is going to run a postdoctoral fellowships programme to help researchers develop software expertise. The programme, which will consist of two-year fellowships available across 12 partner institutions, is costing the research centre €2.9 million. Areas of focus for the fellowships will include privacy, trust, inclusion and fairness.

Number of postgrads on the rise

The number of postgraduate researchers in Irish higher education institutions is continuing to grow, according to the latest figures released by the Irish government. A total of 9,802 postgraduate researchers were active in Irish institutions in 2016, rising to 11,755 in 2021. The report also found that more than 14,700 students in higher education made use of remote learning in 2021.

Review of PhD support delayed

A government review of the financial support available to PhD students in Ireland will not be completed until the summer. The Irish government previously announced that the review, which includes examining the adequacy of PhD stipends, would be finalised by the end of the first quarter of 2023, but this has been delayed until the end of the second quarter, according to the University Times.

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Postgraduate Workers Organisation aims to tackle cost of living crisis and demand better employment conditions

Ireland’s two PhD student unions are to merge in a bid to ensure doctoral students are taken into account in any support action designed to tackle the cost-of-living crisis.

The Postgraduate Workers Organisation will seek to ensure “a decent standard of living” for its members, according to a statement by the PhDs’ Collective Action Union. The new union merges two groups that advocate for PhD students, the PCAU and the Postgraduate Workers Alliance.

Postgraduate students in Ireland are “struggling to survive” due to low stipends, according to the PCAU, which also said that the new union demands better employment conditions for PhD researchers through a “common regulatory framework”.

Cost of living

The news came 11 days after the Irish government announced funding of €4.3 million to assist students in higher education with the rising cost of living. The funding, which will be distributed among 24 higher education institutions, is meant to assist students with the cost of books, class materials, rent, childcare and transport, according to a government statement.

This one-off funding will come from the government’s Student Assistance Fund, which will allocate €20m over the current academic year. However, PhD students are not eligible for this support.

Most PhD students in Ireland earn a standard rate of €18,500 per year, a rate that is currently being reviewed by the Irish government.

The lack of “basic employment rights” such as sickness and paternal leave for PhD students, as well as “discrimination against non-EU researchers in terms of remuneration and residency”, are among the issues highlighted by the PCAU. The new union’s demands include a minimum stipend of €28,000 for all postgraduate students, as well as legal worker status and improved conditions for non-EU researchers in Ireland.

For example, employers of non-EU postgraduate researchers must “cover all costs” incurred in securing residence permits for their postgraduate employees, including sponsorship and processing fees, the union said.

The demands are outlined in a document submitted to the Irish government and other interested parties.

“Being a postgraduate researcher is difficult,” states the new union on its membership form. “None of us are earning above the minimum wage, and all of us are overworked and short of time. Ireland is an expensive country, and has some of the worst stipend provision in the EU. The reality is, this will never change unless we work together.”

Minimum wage

Ireland’s higher education minister, Simon Harris, described the Student Assistance Fund as “an invaluable resource for students who are finding it difficult to make ends meet”.

“The fund is there to assist with additional costs they may face over the coming months. It is completely confidential and accessible through the access offices in publicly funded higher education colleges,” he said.

The announcement of the fund is the latest of a set of measures announced by the Irish government in this year’s budget to help students.

Other support includes a reduction in student registration fees by €1,000 in the current academic year, a 10 to 14 per cent increase in maintenance grants, and an increase of €500 in bursaries for students who are “socioeconomically disadvantaged” or from underrepresented groups, such as members of the traveller and Roma communities.

In October 2022, Harris announced a review of financial and other supports for PhD researchers. This will include their employment status as well as the adequacy of salary models.

The government has been approached for comment.

A version of this article appeared in Research Europe

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Irish agency commits to “acting on climate change” after survey reveals widespread support

The Irish Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) has announced funding of €10.7 million to support research that helps develop and implement environmental policy in Ireland.

The funding, which will be split across 42 research projects addressing climate change and other environmental issues, is part of the EPA’s latest research funding call which closed in June last year.

Earlier this month, research by Ireland’s EPA and Yale University in New Haven, Connecticut showed that Irish people are in “almost full agreement” that climate change is happening. A large proportion of the population said they were worried about it.

The research, based on a survey of 4,000 adults living in Ireland, found that almost nine in ten adults in all regions believed Ireland had a responsibility to act on climate change.

The projects will see over 200 researchers investigating topics such as the circular economy, soil health, pollution in protected areas, food waste from apartments, and pollution in Irish waters.

Most of the 77 proposals came from higher education institutions and research organisations, with others coming from industry and NGOs. Some of the projects include co-funding from industry and government agencies.

Integrated approach

Laura Burke, the EPA’s director general, said that “environmental challenges such as climate change are complex and require an integrated, cross-sectoral approach. We are delighted to be working in partnership with a number of organisations, including the Geological Survey Ireland, the Department of Agriculture, Food and the Marine, and Met Éireann, to co-fund environmental research.”

Jim Livesey, vice-president for research and innovation at the University of Galway, said the funding “further demonstrates the drive among our researchers to collaborate for the public good and the ambition to respond to the challenges facing humanity and society, now and in the years ahead”.

The money paying for the awards came from the Irish government’s department of the environment. The next call for the programme will launch in April, the EPA confirmed.

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This week: ERC success, an empathy laboratory in Galway and energy management in Munster

In depth: Ireland’s two PhD student unions are to merge in a bid to ensure doctoral students are taken into account in any support action designed to tackle the cost-of-living crisis.

Full story: Irish postgraduate student unions to merge

Also this week from Research Professional News

Funds for environmental protection research—Irish agency commits to “acting on climate change” after survey reveals widespread support

Here is the rest of the Irish news this week…

Irish researchers win eight ERC grants

A total of €16 million in European research funding will be split between eight researchers based in Irish higher education institutions. The successful recipients of the ERC Consolidator Grants will research topics such as retinal disease, child-friendly justice for the climate crisis, musicology, and gender-related violence. The awardees are based in University College Cork, Trinity College Dublin, University of Galway, Maynooth University and University College Dublin.

Galway launches ‘empathy lab’

The University of Galway has set up a so-called “empathy lab” that will allow students to study human feelings and experiences using technologies such as simulation suits, infant simulators, haptic gloves and scent masks. The laboratory has been developed as part of a government-funded programme called Designing Futures, which aims to prepare students to deal with complexity, uncertainty and the future of work.

Munster researchers develop energy-management platform

Researchers at Munster Technological University have developed an energy-management platform that allows energy bills and carbon emissions to be tracked, with the aim of reducing both. The researchers plan to spin out the online platform, which is intended for commercial, agricultural and domestic users. The system also incorporates a real-time pricing structure to will help users to reduce costs, the university said.

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Ireland must do better with equality to boost careers and bolster excellence, conference hears

Representatives from academia and funding agencies across Ireland have called for a national conversation on inclusivity in research at a conference highlighting the challenges the country faces in making academia more equal.

The conference, co-organised by the Royal Irish Academy (RIA) and the Higher Education Authority of Ireland (HEA), took place on 10 January in Dublin. It explored how research environments can be made more inclusive, as well as the influence of research assessment and the economy on research careers.

Speakers included vice presidents for equality, diversity and inclusion from various universities, directors of research institutes, research funders, and current and former researchers.

The meeting heard that many academics in Ireland still face barriers to career progression, especially those from minority backgrounds or with non-linear career paths. These barriers range from racism and discrimination to inflexible policies and hierarchical work environments, the conference heard.

Root causes

Philip Nolan, director general of Science Foundation Ireland, told attendees that “when it comes to research careers, we need a national discussion which needs to be followed by a policy programme”.

“Even though we are making huge progress, and a lot of the root causes of structural inequality and exclusion are being addressed, we need to continue the conversation about what those root causes are, because the collective understanding of why people are treated differently and what our biases are is not yet universal,” he said.

Nolan said it was “critical that we focus specifically now on the doctoral and postdoctoral experience—there shouldn’t be barriers in that space, and also mid-career. They are the two big areas that require early attention.”

Many speakers at the conference emphasised the need to implement existing measures and policies to address these issues, which, they said, were often not properly rolled out.

Need for analysis

Lisa Keating, director of research and innovation at the Irish Universities Association, pointed towards Ireland’s research career framework, which provides details on career progression for academics, such as salary increases and grades. Keating said there was a need “to look at the initiatives and policies we have in place, analyse them to see what is actually happening, and try to really embed them.”

She also urged policymakers to talk to those “living the experience” to learn whether policies were actually making a difference on the ground.

One former postdoctoral researcher, for example, told attendees that legally set salary increases for postdoctoral researchers were not always automatically applied.

Conference attendees also heard from Gillian Boyle from University College Dublin’s (UCD) research culture initiative, which last year analysed the careers of technical officers in Irish universities who are supposed to provide technical assistance to academic staff.

The role of the technical officer remains undefined, the UCD research culture initiative found, and the resulting lack of clarity of career progression is of “significant concern”, Boyle said. She said many technical officers felt overwhelmed with their workload, having to work outside regular hours, on top of taking on additional responsibilities during the pandemic.

“All of them felt these contributions had been overlooked and unacknowledged by the institution and their academic colleagues,” Boyle said. “Many felt their work was not valued by the research community, that they were just part of the equipment.”

This article also appeared in Research Europe

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Government funding is expected to flow towards retrofitting buildings and switching to low-emission technology

A funding pot worth €26 million is being made available to higher education institutions in Ireland to make campuses more sustainable.

The money is part of the latest round of funding under the Irish government’s energy efficiency and decarbonisation programmes. The funding will allow different types of retrofitting to be tested on campus buildings, as well as pay for energy efficiency projects such as heat-pump installation and mechanical and electrical upgrades.

Higher education institutions will be invited to apply for funding later this year, according to a government statement.

While announcing the funding, environment minister Eamon Ryan said the programme was delivering “significant energy savings and emission reductions while improving learning environments for our young people”.

“The programme also continues to be highly successful in testing retrofit and decarbonisation solutions in higher education campuses across the country, meaning that we are gathering the evidence needed to scale up and speed up our transition over coming years,” he said.

Unprecedented action

A report on building decarbonisation found that Ireland’s commitment to reducing greenhouse gas emissions by 51 per cent by 2030 will require “an unprecedented level of additional policy effort”.

The report, commissioned by the Irish government and prepared by the Sustainable Energy Authority of Ireland, found that heat-related carbon dioxide emissions are still increasing across all public buildings in Ireland. Installation of heat pumps in buildings and the full phase-out of fossil fuel technologies are among the report’s recommendations incorporated in the latest funding call.

Higher education minister Simon Harris welcomed the announcement, noting that the funding programme “will help institutions get there, [and that] developing and disseminating knowledge on a range of decarbonisation pathways will work for the sector as a whole”.

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This week: inclusive campus design, a Stem passport and consultation on major funders merger

In depth: Representatives from academia and funding agencies across Ireland have called for a national conversation on inclusivity in research at a conference highlighting the challenges the country faces in making academia more equal.

Full story: Academics demand ‘national conversation’ on inclusivity

Also this week from Research Professional News

Ireland looks to make universities energy efficient—Government funding is expected to flow towards retrofitting buildings and switching to low-emission technology

Here is the rest of the Irish news this week…

Funding to support inclusive campus design

The Irish government has allocated €3 million to making campuses more inclusive. The funding will be used to develop universal design policies that ensure buildings, services and products are accessible for all. The money will also pay for audits of existing built and digital spaces, and the provision of quiet, sensory spaces, as part of “working towards autism-friendly campuses”, the government said.

Funders renew Stem equality passport scheme

Funding of €1.2 million has been set aside to renew a gender-equality project, which has been running since 2021. The Stem Passport for Inclusion project, led by Maynooth University, is offering accredited Stem qualifications to female school students in socially disadvantaged communities in Ireland. Funding comes jointly from the Irish government’s department of education, Science Foundation Ireland and Microsoft Ireland.

Call for views on Ireland’s new funding agency

Researchers in Ireland are invited to a workshop on the planned merger of Science Foundation Ireland and the Irish Research Council, which is expected to be completed later this year. The workshop, which will take place on 2 February at the University of Limerick, will gather views on the new funding agency. The event is organised by the Royal Irish Academy and the Irish Universities Association.

The post Ireland news roundup: 10-23 January appeared first on Research Professional News.

This week: research infrastructure spending, construction at TUs and funds for Traveller and Roma students

In depth: Ireland needs more institutional commitment and government funding to advance gender equality in higher education, according to a review of gender issues at universities.

Full story: Review urges ‘concerted’ action for gender equality

Also this week from Research Professional News

The price of reform—High price of living risks undoing benefits of Ireland’s higher education reforms

Here is the rest of the Irish news this week…

Millions for research infrastructure

Funding agency Science Foundation Ireland will spend €53 million on 33 research infrastructure projects. The money, made available through the agency’s Research Infrastructure Fund, will help develop a battery fabrication and testing facility, a soil greenhouse gas test platform, a microscopy facility, and a laboratory that will develop ultraspeed photonic and wireless communications technology.

More buildings for Technological Universities

Six additional buildings will be constructed at campuses across Ireland to improve study and research facilities, the government has announced. The construction, funded through public-private partnerships, will cost approximately €250 million. The buildings, which include a science centre and a learning resource centre, will be built at the Technological University Dublin, Munster Technological University, Technological University of the Shannon, and the Institute of Art, Design and Technology.

Funds to increase participation in higher education

The Irish government is planning to spend €450,000 on helping to increase the participation of underrepresented communities in higher education. The funding will be directed particularly towards Traveller and Roma students, offering bursaries and apprenticeships to help pave their way into higher education. Some of the funds will be used to build direct partnerships between universities and traveller communities.

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Higher Education Authority identifies some progress in addressing inequality, but warns Irish institutions lack funding

Ireland needs more institutional commitment and government funding to advance gender equality in higher education, according to a review of gender issues at universities.

The review, commissioned by the Higher Education Authority of Ireland (HEA), succeeds an initial report from 2016. It calls for “concerted institutional action” and more financial support to ensure progress on gender equality can continue. 

Some funding should be diverted to the issue from core funding of institutions, the report proposes. However, the authors say there is a “need for government to support further measures through the provision of additional targeted and ring-fenced funding”. 

Recommendations

The report says Irish higher education institutions should have a gender equality action plan published on their website. It also highlights a need to develop a strategy to address precarity of employment in higher education institutions. 

Furthermore, the report urges institutions to move away from a “binary approach” to gender data collection. Instead, institutions should collect information on the impact of gender inequality, including precarious employment or stymied career progression. 

In 2016, the first HEA national review of gender equality in Irish higher education institutions identified a “dearth of senior female staff throughout the system”. It made several recommendations, many of which remain valid, according to the 2022 update.

The latest review was carried out by a six experts and includes interviews and an online consultation open to all staff in Irish higher education institutions.

Progress?

The experts highlight that all higher education institutions have gender action plans in place. Most institutions also have a senior equality, diversity and inclusion (EDI) role, while almost all have EDI committees.

Furthermore, gender equality is considered in most role descriptions, the report finds. 

However, “little progress” has been made to ensure workload allocation is transparent and monitored for gender bias. And only “some progress” has been made to develop gender inequality awareness among staff and implement flexible working policies.

Overall, there is a need for initiatives that support early and mid-career staff, the report finds, as well as a “systematic approach” to capturing, analysing and reporting data on gender.

‘Recommendations pave way for new reality’

Niamh O’Donoghue, the chair of the HEA’s expert group, said there was much work to be done, despite “significant progress in relation to gender equality on several levels” since the 2016 HEA review and the 2018 Gender Equality Taskforce action plan.

“This progress is owed to engagement by many of the stakeholders, investment by the government and by individual institutions, and huge work by many individuals throughout the system,” she said. 

“There is a real opportunity in Ireland for higher education institutions to make gender equality a reality thereby creating a ripple effect through all society.

“We hope that our recommendations help pave the way to this new reality and look forward to seeing real impact within a short time.” 

The HEA said it would monitor progress on the recommendations in the review each year.

A version of this article appeared in Research Europe

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High price of living risks undoing benefits of Ireland’s higher education reforms

With the cost of living and housing crises far from over, 2023 promises to be another tough year for staff and students in Irish higher education institutions faced with low stipends and precarious contracts.

A national review of PhD supports, including stipends, funding and contracts, started in November. Thousands of students now eagerly—and perhaps anxiously—await its outcome, to be publicised early this year. The review will make recommendations on PhD finances, but whether the ongoing recession will leave enough money in the kitty for this is another matter.

In December 2022, Ireland’s PhDs’ Collective Action Union (PCAU) submitted their demands to higher education and research minister Simon Harris, demanding fair treatment and pay, as well as employee status for PhD students in Ireland. Their demands were made in the wake of Ireland’s Higher Education Authority Bill, which threatens non-compliant institutions with funding withdrawal.

The bill’s effects will be felt this year, when universities failing to offer PhD students basic pay and employment status could see their finances reduced. Critics see the bill as government interference in higher education, but its supporters see in it a chance to address inequalities and financial insecurity among early career researchers, which are compounded by inflation and the high cost of living in Ireland’s cities.

But this is not the only way the Irish higher education landscape is being altered. Over the past year, the Irish government continued to establish new technological universities (TUs), each one the result of merging institutes of technology. There are now five regional TUs, each tasked with addressing the “social and economic needs of their region” and with engaging in “industry-focused research”.

However, according to a recently published Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) report, the career structure, academic contracts, and capacities of the departments and faculties in Irish TUs need to be “substantially” revised if these universities are to meet international standards.

After sweeping reforms last year, 2023 promises to be a year of implementation. But depending on how this goes, and whether research budgets remain stable, there could well be room for further sweeping changes—this time out of necessity.

The post The price of reform appeared first on Research Professional News.

Cross-country projects to focus on common priorities such as education, finance and biodiversity loss

The Irish Research Council has awarded funding to eight research projects with money specifically set aside to strengthen collaboration across the island of Ireland.

The awards, part of the funding agency’s New Foundations programme, are collectively worth €150,000 and will focus on priorities identified by the Irish government as part of its latest national development plan. They include economic, policy and political cooperation, and social and cultural connections.

One of the newly funded projects, led by the Royal Irish Academy, will compare higher and further education policies in the north-west of Ireland, on both sides of the border, and in Scotland and Wales. This will help “tackle regional inequalities” and “educational migration that is occurring as a result of current policies”, the RIA said in a statement.

Other successful projects include a research partnership between two universities looking at sustainable finance solutions to tackle biodiversity loss, the establishment of an all-island research network on educational neuroscience, research on the circular economy, and interdisciplinary work on rare diseases.

Common solutions

“Research can play a significant role in building links between communities by finding solutions to common problems,” said Simon Harris, education minister of Ireland.

“The Irish Research Council’s New Foundations programme will tap into the expertise and talent in the research systems of this island—north and south—for the benefit of shared island goals,” he added. “The funded projects will see researchers examine issues including the circular economy, cancer treatment, and post-pandemic recovery in the performing arts industry.”

The research partnerships funded through this programme can be either north-south on the island of Ireland, east-west between Ireland and Britain, or through an international collaboration that is relevant to the island of Ireland and the Good Friday Agreement.

The awards were announced on 5 December by Ireland’s prime minister, Micheál Martin, as part of a larger €50 million government investment to strengthen north-south, east-west and all-island cooperation. Spending includes €11m to deliver biodiversity actions on peatland restoration and biosecurity, and €12m for a cross-border innovation hub.

There will also be funding for projects on tourism, cultural heritage and marketing initiatives.

Joint future

Announcing the awards, Martin said: “Our actions today north and south will shape what follows, what kind of future is possible. As a government, we are taking sincere, ambitious, sustained action to enable the best prospects for our shared future on this island—however it may be constituted.”

Harris said the investments will enable “new all-island opportunities, including on climate action and biodiversity conservation, capitalising on the island’s tourism offering, celebrating our diverse cultures and traditions, and enabling world class research and innovation capacity on the island of Ireland”.

Eleven projects were funded under the first call of the awards earlier this year. These are currently being “finalised and published”, according to the Irish Research Council.

As part of the funding package, €10m has been set aside for the next round of north-south collaborative research projects, Martin said.

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Extra efforts made to encourage those with disabilities and from disadvantaged backgrounds to apply

The number of students from traditionally underrepresented groups attending the University of Galway has increased by nearly a quarter—from 596 to 734—since 2010, according to the university.

Its report on the issue, which includes data on undergraduates’ backgrounds, was compiled by a committee dedicated to widening participation to students from diverse backgrounds.

Over the past 10 years, 4,212 students accessed the university through two government schemes for students with a disability or from socio-economically disadvantaged groups: the Higher Education Access Route and the Disability Access Route to Education.

The number of students who have registered with its disability support services has increased since 2015, the university said, with 688 registering in 2015 and 1,416 in 2021. This service caters to students who need support or suitable accommodation due to the impact of a disability, ongoing physical or mental health conditions, or a specific learning difficulty.

Further opportunities

The most commonly registered disabilities from 2015 to 2021 were mental health conditions, learning difficulties, ongoing illness, neurological issues, and attention deficit or hyperactivity disorders, the report found.

White Irish has remained the dominant ethnicity since 2010. Over 83 per cent of students registered as white Irish in 2021.

Imelda Byrne, Access Centre head at the University of Galway, said: “We are proud of the progress we have made so far, but recognise that more still can be done to further extend opportunities to underrepresented groups.”

The launch of the report coincided with the opening of a new Access Centre office at the university. The office will help “ensure that students can access, participate and succeed at third-level education”, according to the university.

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This week: scholarships for women, more student accommodation and a plastic-free campus in Cork

In depth: The Irish Research Council has awarded funding to eight research projects with money specifically set aside to strengthen collaboration across the island of Ireland.

Full story: More funding for north-south research collaborations

Also this week from Research Professional News

University of Galway widens student participation—Extra efforts made to encourage those with disabilities and from disadvantaged backgrounds to apply

Here is the rest of the Irish news this week…

Stem scholarships for Trinity women

Five undergraduates in Trinity College Dublin are the first recipients of a scholarship that will allow them to study Stem subjects. The scholarships, worth €20,000 each, are funded by telecoms company Three Ireland, which will also provide mentoring as part of the award. Twenty additional scholarships will be awarded over the next five years to students in Trinity, it was confirmed.

700 extra student beds

The Irish government has announced it will fund extra student accommodation in public higher education institutions as part of its housing policy. Up to 667 beds will be made available at the University of Limerick, Maynooth University and the University of Galway, with further accommodation planned in Dublin City University and University College Dublin.

University College Cork bans disposable plastic

Single-use plastic will be eliminated from the University College Cork campus from next year. The move includes banning single-use plastic from campus dining operations, shops and vending machines. The decision follows a petition started by the university’s students’ union that gathered over 8,000 signatures. The ban will be effective from 2 January.

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Plan proposes institutional policies to achieve total open publication for publicly funded work

The Irish government has launched an ambitious national plan for open research that would see all publicly funded scientific publications in Ireland become open access by 2030. 

The plan aims to establish a culture of open research by working towards “100 per cent open access” publications in repositories, journals or other platforms. It sets out to enable findable, accessible, interoperable and reusable research results, the government said. 

Developed by Ireland’s National Open Research Forum (NORF), a group of representatives from politics, research funding, libraries and the wider research sector, the plan is based on public consultations. It aligns with the government’s research strategy, Impact 2030.

As part of the plan, existing open-access repositories will be assessed and aligned, the government said, and a national research data management framework will be set up by 2024.

Assessment of author rights

In addition, a legal assessment of how authors’ rights can be retained by researchers if they wish to make their findings open access is to take place from 2023 and 2024. “Payment of author-facing open access publishing fees to hybrid journals is not supported, except as a limited part of transformative agreements with a clearly defined timeframe,” the plan states. 

The plan also “strongly” recommends that all funders and institutions develop and implement open-access policies that are aligned with each other and with international approaches, such as Plan S.

To transition to a culture of open research, the plan commits to developing a training programme that would cover how open criteria can be applied in the hiring of staff and their career progression. The programme also foresees the embedding open research support roles among staff in institutions. 

This cultural shift also involves moving away from “overreliance on journal and publication-based metrics and towards more qualitative evaluation” in research assessment. This will be supported by “responsibly used quantitative indicators where appropriate”, the plan states. 

To achieve this, the government will work with universities to create a national statement on responsible research metrics by 2024.

“Open research is essential for us all to learn from each other,” said higher education minister Simon Harris. “It improves access and transparency and provides benefits for researchers, research communities, research institutions, governments, industry, and society more generally.” 

‘Practical step to help transition to open access’

Among the first actions to be implemented was a funding pot worth €1.16 million, which has been distributed by NORF to six projects to implement the plan. 

One of the projects, hosted by the Royal Irish Academy, will develop a pilot and feasibility study to establish an Irish platform for diamond open access, which is free to both authors and readers. 

“Designing a piece of infrastructure for publishers to manage the complex publishing process from peer review to delivering innovative research to readers will be a really practical step to help publishers transition to open access,” said Ruth Hegarty, managing editor of the Royal Irish Academy.

Other funded projects will focus on monitoring of open-access publications, aligning open-access repositories, developing an open-research training programme, shared data storage and data stewardship.

The six research projects, which started on 1 November, will run for two years, and the action plan will be reviewed and updated every three years.

A version of this article also appeared in Research Europe

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Women apply for less funding and get lower amounts, according to Science Foundation Ireland

Fewer women than men applied for grants in the past ten years, and they applied for less funding, according to data released by Ireland’s main research funder, Science Foundation Ireland.

A report showed that 71 per cent of the 4,242 funding applications made to the SFI between 2011 and 2021 came from men. A similar rate—70 per cent—of the 1,287 funding awards made in that timeframe went to male applicants, according to the latest gender data.

The data showed that female applicants to SFI’s funding programmes requested an average of €537,000 in funding, but men requested nearly double that amount, at €960,000 on average.

The figures are particularly stark in SFI research centres. Since they launched in 2012, only six of the 64 funding applications made by these centres came from women, and only two of the 17 project awards made were granted to female researchers.

On its website, SFI writes that it “acknowledges there is gender imbalance within some SFI research centres, particularly in leadership roles”. A foundation spokesperson added that “in order to address gender imbalance, SFI research centres will develop a gender action plan to support improvements”.

The gender data, which is self-reported and binary, does not include funding programmes that started in 2021 and are ongoing.

The SFI noted that there had been an overall improvement in these figures in “recent years”, with women applying for similar amounts of funding compared with men across 2020 and 2021. During these two years, women requested more funding on average—€386,000—than their male colleagues, who requested just €318,000.

The annual percentage of female applicants to SFI funding calls increased from 17 per cent to 43 per cent between 2011 and 2021. The percentage of grants awarded to women increased from 20 per cent to 40 per cent in the same period.

SFI is currently reviewing its gender strategy, which was launched in 2016, “with a key objective of understanding what worked and where gaps remain”.

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This week: technology university funding, students’ living costs and awards for higher education

In depth: The Irish government has launched an ambitious national plan for open research that would see all publicly funded scientific publications in Ireland become open access by 2030.

Full story: Ireland aims for 100% open access by 2030

Also this week from Research Professional News

Gender gaps persist in Irish research funding—Women apply for less funding and get lower amounts, according to Science Foundation Ireland

Here is the rest of the Irish news this week…

€16m for technological universities

The Irish government has awarded technological universities and institutes of technology €16.2 million in research funding via the SFI Frontiers for Partnership Awards. The money will be split among 15 projects aimed at “increasing research capacity” in their respective institutions, according to a government statement. Funded research areas include green hydrogen, sheep breeding and cancer therapies.

Over €22m to help students cope with costs

A national fund to help higher education students cope with day-to-day living expenses, such as transport and rent, has received a top-up of €17 million from the Irish government for 2023. An additional €5m has been earmarked to help recruit student counsellors and to fund measures that support students’ mental health and wellbeing.

Irish universities win higher education awards

Dublin City University won two awards at the Times Higher Education awards earlier this month. The prizes recognise the university’s work on outreach and on its campuses, DCU said. At the same awards, University College Cork won the sustainability award, while Michael Daly, a lecturer in cardiology at the Royal College of Surgeons of Ireland, was crowned “most innovative teacher”.

The post Ireland news roundup: 15-28 November appeared first on Research Professional News.

Irish students in greater need of emotional care, prompting pressure on existing services

Ireland’s universities need more funding for counselling and emotional wellbeing services, as the country is witnessing  a “dramatic increase” in demand, according to university counsellors.

Speaking at a roundtable convened by the Irish parliamentary committee on higher education, Treasa Fox, head of student counselling at the Technological University of the Shannon, said there had been an explosion in requests for such services over recent years. Fox, who also chairs the Psychological Counsellors in Higher Education Ireland group, said this increase had gone hand-in-hand with “a consistent rise” in self-reported self-harm and suicidal intention among students.

In the academic year 2019-20, 12,852 students in Ireland attended around 65,000 counselling appointments, said Fox. But in 2020-21, this increased to 14,386 students attending about 69,000 appointments.

Fox said this figure represented 6 per cent of the total number of students in Ireland.

Care limits

At present, universities are coping via “diluted treatment”, in the form of spreading appointments out, limiting the number of appointments, and shortening the length of appointments, Fox warned. Some universities were also forced to put limits on who is eligible for care, she told the committee, which led to “poor outcomes” and less reduction in symptoms.

A 2022 survey of 42,852 undergraduate and postgraduate students in Ireland—the Student Engagement National Report—found that one in three students had “seriously considered” quitting their studies due to pressures. The main reasons given by students were personal or family, finances and mental health.

Other reasons mentioned by the respondents included the challenges of balancing personal life, work and study, loneliness and difficulty making friends, as well as a lack of support from their institutions.

Full-time, taught postgraduate respondents said their mental health suffered most due to financial concerns, as well as personal or family issues. For international postgraduate students, financial pressure was the most commonly cited reason.

“Without access to appropriately resourced, timely and adequate counselling services, many students, because of personal or mental health reasons, will inevitably withdraw,” said Fox.

24-hour support

In October, the Irish government announced the rollout of 24-hour mental health support for students in the form of online platforms offering peer support, moderated by mental health professionals. Funding for this initiative was part of the budget helping the country cope with the impacts of Covid-19.

At the parliamentary meeting, Fox called for more, and more accessible, funding to address mental health challenges in higher education.

“There is a clear need for multi-annual core funding, ringfenced for student counselling services, to ensure continuity of improved services,” she said. “This will embed the enhancements arising from the lessons of the pandemic.”

“Specifically, we repeat our call for increased funding to support higher education institutions to meet international standards of one counsellor to 1,000 students,” Fox said, noting that recruitment of qualified and experience counsellors, psychologists and psychotherapists at universities has become “increasingly difficult”.

This is because these positions are offered as short-term contracts due to the “once-off nature of recent funding allocations”, Fox said.

Fox told the committee that student counselling should become a “viable and attractive” career for psychologists and other mental health professionals. But this could only be guaranteed with core funding instead of the “ad-hoc” funding model in place at present, she said.

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Measures include annual leave for bereaved academics and help for those experiencing domestic violence

Staff in Irish universities who are suffering from a bereavement will be entitled to 20 days of paid annual leave, the government has announced.

This support will apply to staff members in further and higher education who are dealing with the loss of a spouse, partner or child.

“While this goes no way to offset the emotional trauma of such a terrible event, the additional paid leave is a support to staff in these distressing times,” said higher education minister Simon Harris.

Harris said the new measure was the result of a “longstanding campaign” to ensure leave entitlements of higher and further education staff are aligned with those available to other staff in the public sector.

Sensitive support

The announcement came the same week that the Royal College of Surgeons in Ireland’s (RCSI) Faculty of Medicine and Health Sciences launched a new policy to support employees affected by domestic violence. The policy includes a range of “appropriate, reasonable accommodations and supports, including adjustments to working arrangements and dedicated leave to support staff members experiencing domestic violence and abuse”, according to the RCSI.

“RCSI recognises and will deal sensitively with any employee who may be experiencing domestic violence and abuse,” the organisation said. “[The policy] provides clear guidance on the supports, internally and externally, that are available.”

The policy, which follows on from the Higher Education Authority of Ireland’s plan to deal with sexual violence and harassment in higher education, was welcomed by minister Harris. While launching the policy, Harris noted that last year he wrote to all higher education institutions “to encourage them to consider implementing a domestic violence and abuse leave policy to cover all staff”.

“I am delighted that RCSI has been a leader in implementing this change today,” he said.

Domestic abuse charities Women’s Aid and Men’s Aid were consulted in the development of the policy, and Women’s Aid will provide training to help implement it.

A version of this article also appeared in Research Europe

The post Ireland offers extra support for staff in life crisis appeared first on Research Professional News.

This week: bursaries in Cork, an open-science charter and national Science Week celebrations

In depth: Ireland’s universities need more funding for counselling and emotional wellbeing services, as the country is witnessing  a “dramatic increase” in demand, according to university councillors.

Full story: Calls for better funding for counselling services

Also this week from Research Professional News

Ireland offers extra support for staff in life crisis—Measures include annual leave for bereaved academics and help for those experiencing domestic violence

Here is the rest of the Irish news this week…

University College Cork launches bursary

A bursary for students from disadvantaged economic backgrounds has been launched by University College Cork. A total of €337,000 in funding has been made available to increase access to university education. The funding, which is expected to benefit 23 students, comes in the form of a donation by former senior lecturer Mary Barry Wall.

Irish software centre publishes open science charter

A software research centre hosted by the University of Limerick has published a charter on open science. In the charter, the Lero research centre, funded by Science Foundation Ireland, expressed its commitment to open science principles, such as sharing findable, accessible, interoperable, open and reusable data, and ensuring all peer-reviewed publications are freely accessible.

Ireland celebrates Science Week

From 13 to 20 November, hundreds of Stem-themed events will be on offer to people in Ireland as part of national Science Week. Under the theme of Infinite Possibilities, the in-person and online events are informed by the results of a public consultation by the Irish government into what topics people think researchers in Ireland should explore.

The post Ireland news roundup: 1-14 November appeared first on Research Professional News.

Irish government issues “easy-to-use” advice to combat harassment and rape

A plan to tackle sexual violence and harassment in higher education aims to “end” such crimes at universities, according to the Higher Education Authority of Ireland (HEA).

The HEA plan, which covers the period from 2022 to 2024, includes 19 actions, such as the creation of an “easy to use” system for staff and students to report and disclose incidents.

The plan also proposes the development of institutional policies and the creation of awareness campaigns and training materials on sexual violence and harassment.

As part of the recommendations in the plan, institutions will need to record statistics on harassment, assault and rape, and report them to the HEA. They are also required to measure the effectiveness of their own initiatives and support services.

Lack of help

The actions in the plan follow on from the findings of two surveys of more than 11,000 staff and students in Irish higher education institutions. The surveys, conducted by the HEA in 2021, identified “alarming levels of sexual harassment and violence, indicating an urgent need for action to tackle the issues”, said the HEA in a statement accompanying the new plan.

The surveys found that female-identifying students were particularly likely to experience sexual harassment and violence, and that there was a “relatively high level of exposure” among non-binary students, bisexual students, students who identified as gay, lesbian, queer or another sexual orientation, and those with a disability.

“Worryingly, a low level of student respondents agreed that they knew where to go to get help on campus,” noted the HEA.

An extra €1.5 million in government funding will help deliver these actions, said higher education minister Simon Harris while launching the plan.

Specifically, this funding will support the creation of posts in higher education institutions—so-called sexual violence and harassment prevention and response managers—whose role will be to deal with incidents and “lead on the important changes we are making”, said the minister.

“I have been very clear that the tertiary education and training sector must lead the way in changing cultures, behaviours and practices across society to ensure that sexual violence and harassment are not tolerated,” Harris said.

Further research

The minister added that there was a “particular responsibility on those charged with educating the next generation in ensuring that their students and learners are equipped to lead the change more widely across society”.

The plan foresees further research on the experiences of staff from international or non-traditional backgrounds, and the mapping of existing reporting mechanisms, investigation procedures and support services for staff and students in institutions across Ireland.

A pilot programme is planned to embed into the curriculum education on issues such as consent and bystander intervention.

All these recommendations are intended to accompany and build on existing policies and action plans to create a “safe, respectful, supportive and positive” campus culture, according to the HEA.

The delivery of these actions will be overseen by the HEA advisory group on ending sexual violence and harassment, whose 19 members include academics, staff at funding agencies and charities such as Rape Crisis Network Ireland, as well as HEA staff.

The advisory group will hold regular meetings and carry out a full review of progress after one year, according to the plan.

This article also appeared in Research Europe

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Existing supports may not be enough to ensure welfare of budding researchers, government warns

The Irish government has announced a national review of existing supports for PhD students in Ireland.

The review, which will start in November and end in early 2023, will look at financial support, equality and welfare issues among Ireland’s budding scientists.

It will also analyse the status of PhD students as students versus as academic employees, as well as graduate outcomes and the impact of visa requirements on wellbeing, according to the government announcement.

The announcement follows a wave of criticism from academics in Ireland over low PhD stipends—typically less than €20,000 a year. As the cost of living is rising across Europe, academic unions have complained that this is not enough to ensure adequate standards of living, especially under skyrocketing inflation.

The latest Irish higher education budget included a €500 increase in PhD stipends for students funded by Science Foundation Ireland or the Irish Research Council. But this increase was met with criticism from student bodies such as the PhD’s Collective Action Union (PCAU), whose petition demanding “fair pay” for PhD researchers in Ireland has received more than 4,500 signatures.

No poverty

Higher education minister Simon Harris said that the upcoming review would engage with “relevant stakeholders”, including PhD researchers, host institutions, research funders, employers and various government departments.

“We want Ireland to be a leader in talent,” said Harris. “In order to do that, we have to ensure that our brightest talent here in Ireland can pursue their research ambitions in a supportive environment.”

The review was welcomed as a “major step forward” by the PCAU on Twitter. But the collective cautioned that the review “must be followed by a commitment to ending PhD poverty and matching the standards of other EU countries in pay and conditions.”

Meanwhile, the Irish Federation of University Teachers (IFUT) has written to the Irish government demanding to be included in the review. IFUT deputy general secretary Miriam Hamilton said that IFUT are “perplexed” that the review is proposed to proceed without trade union involvement.

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This week: cross-border collaboration, a university for the south-east and open access success

In depth: A plan to tackle sexual violence and harassment in higher education aims to “end” such crimes at universities, according to the Higher Education Authority of Ireland (HEA).

Full story: Plan to address sexual violence in higher education

Also this week from Research Professional News

Cost-of-living crisis prompts PhD funding review—Existing supports may not be enough to ensure welfare of budding researchers, government warns

Here is the rest of the Irish news this week…

Funding for new cross-border research centres

The Irish and UK governments have teamed up to create several cross-border, collaborative research centres with €74 million in joint funding. The centres will focus on climate change and sustainable and resilient food systems. The investment comes from the Irish Department of Agriculture, Environment and Rural Affairs (up to £17m), Science Foundation Ireland (up to €40m) and the UK research councils (up to £12m). 

South East Technological University opens

The latest technological university in the south-east of Ireland officially opened on 24 October. South East Technological University will provide higher education programmes ranging from apprenticeships to doctoral level qualifications. This is the fifth technological university to be created in Ireland since 2019 as part of the Irish government’s drive to stimulate regional economic development.

Push for open access in Ireland

Just under half of all journal articles written by Ireland-based researchers were published in an open access manner last year, according to data from IreL, a consortium of Irish research libraries. The consortium said it hoped that this would increase to 60 per cent in 2022. The data was published as part of Ireland’s Open Access Week.

The post Ireland news round-up: 18-31 October appeared first on Research Professional News.

Changes strengthen the role of the Higher Education Authority

A bill seeking to radically reform the national higher education system has been approved by the Irish parliament.

The Higher Education Authority (HEA) Bill will shake up how Irish higher education institutions are run, introducing extra accountability and reporting requirements for institutions and adding powers to the HEA, the statutory policy advisory body for higher education in Ireland.

The bill, which brings with it the first major reform to legislation around higher education in 50 years, aims to modernise the role of the HEA. It will change how universities and other higher education institutions are regulated and organised, including the size and composition of governing boards.

Among its more controversial measures, the new law envisions that funding can be withheld or returned to the Irish government in cases of misconduct and non-compliance. Moreover, performance of institutions will be assessed against “value for money”, and governing boards will now include 10 external members nominated by the government and by the governing bodies.

In a statement accompanying the bill, the government said the new law will help “promote and safeguard the interests of students and advance equality, diversity and inclusion in higher education”.

Despite the bill specifying that “academic freedom of higher education providers and academic staff” will be respected, critics of the reform worry it will bring about corporatisation of universities and loss of autonomy, as well as potential government interference in university affairs.

Higher education minister Simon Harris welcomed the bill’s approval, saying it would help create “the best and most modern education system in Europe”.

“Learners of all ages deserve a higher education system that is fair, equitable and accessible, and one that delivers value for money to the taxpayer. Present and future generations must be given the tools to compete with the best in the world, and with this bill, I firmly believe it is yet another step towards achieving that,” he said. 

Better value for students  

Speaking last year about the upcoming reform, HEA chief executive Alan Wall said the Irish state invests “considerable resources” into higher education and “needs to be assured that it and our students are getting the best possible return on that investment”.

“Our institutions require a balance between autonomy and accountability, if they are to continue to innovate and to respond to national challenges and needs,” he said.

During a recent address to Trinity College Dublin’s college community, the provost Linda Doyle said the bill presented a “huge opportunity” to update governance and work on areas such as biodiversity, and equality, diversity and inclusion.

Before passing through parliament, the bill was amended to include representatives from student unions on government bodies.

While campaign group Students4Change welcomed this amendment, it said in a statement that the bill “overall follows a rigid corporate philosophy in which the proportion of those who would advocate and ruffle feathers—students, staff and trade unions—will be shrunk in favour of those who toe the line on governing bodies.” 

The bill will be now sent to the Irish president to be signed into law.

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This week: €24 million for research grants, students’ mental health support, funds for Irish researchers

In depth: A bill seeking to radically reform the national higher education system has been approved by the Irish parliament.

Full story: Controversial higher education bill passed

___________________________________________________

Also this week from Research Professional News

Housing and energy bills create nightmare for students – Budget measures fail to assuage concerns over cost of living squeeze

__________________________________________________

Here is the rest of the Irish news this week… 

Funding for curiosity-driven research

Almost €24 million in funding has been awarded by the Irish Research Council to 48 curiosity-driven research projects. The awardees of the Starting and Consolidator Laureate Awards Programme are early and mid-career researchers who will examine topics such as cancer risk, climate action, migration and communication. 

Round-the-clock support for student mental health

New funding will provide 24/7 mental health support for students in higher education in Ireland. Students will be able to access the service anonymously through an online peer-to-peer network that is clinically moderated, the Irish government has said. The support is intended to help combat issues such as loneliness and isolation. 

Early career researchers receive EU funding

Research institutions in Ireland have been awarded €34 million in EU funding to support early career researchers. The funding, won through Horizon Europe’s Marie Skłodowska-Curie Actions programme, will enable research and training projects across all disciplines, including investigating treatment for spinal cord injuries, air pollution sensors and cyberbullying.

The post Ireland news roundup: 4-17 October appeared first on Research Professional News.

Budget measures fail to assuage concerns over cost of living squeeze

Students and researchers in Ireland are having to contend with soaring cost of living, coupled with an ongoing accommodation crisis that is leaving many in distressing circumstances.

The latest Irish budget included measures aimed at easing the burden of rising costs for students, such as a one-off €1,000 reduction in undergraduate fees, a €500 increase in PhD stipends, and increases in some student grants.

But many researchers and students in Ireland feel these measures do not go far enough. The recently formed Irish Precarity Network, which includes academics, researchers and educators campaigning for better employment conditions in Irish universities, says low wages and short-term contracts are forcing many staff and students to leave academia.

Meanwhile, the collective Students4Change said in a recent statement that the cost of living crisis is disrupting the lives of staff and students “in unacceptable ways”, and the Union of Students of Ireland noted that students are being left “homeless” due to the cost of living and accommodation crises.

An increasing number of students are deferring their university places due to a lack of accommodation, or are forced to commute long hours from their family homes to attend classes.

A recent survey of 413 students by political party Sinn Fein found that rising energy bills are “exacerbating an already severe situation in terms of cost of accommodation”.  

In the survey, one PhD student living in Dublin said that “out of a €1,500 per month stipend, €1,000 each month going towards accommodation is criminal”.

“I am left eating beans on toast for all meals and cannot afford to do any leisure activities. My mental health has been severely impacted and I am considering quitting my programme and leaving the country,” the student said.

Another undergraduate student quoted in the survey said they were intending to sleep on an air mattress “in a college corridor” due to a lack of rooms. “It’s a nightmare!” they said.

With the winter months looming and a budget for universities that has left many academics disappointed, the nightmare is far from over.

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Irish government’s funding push falls far short of what is needed, association says

Universities across Ireland have condemned the government’s latest budget as offering too little funding to close what they describe as a considerable finance gap.

The budget, which was announced on 27 September, allocates a total of €3.9 billion to Irish higher education and research institutions. This is up from €3.7bn in last year’s budget.

The €3.9bn figure includes €2.2bn for higher education, €700 million for skills development, €682.5m for a national training fund, and €265m for research, innovation and science. The budget also sets aside €32m to create 4,100 additional places for students to meet “demographic pressures and demand”.

But only €40m of the total will address the “sustainable funding of higher education”. This amount is “very disappointing”, said the Irish Universities Association (IUA).

The association said that universities in Ireland were facing a €307m gap in core funding, which was identified by the country’s government in its Funding the Future report in May.

“If the annual rate of funding increase were to continue at the Budget 2023 rate of €40m, it would take eight years to close the gap,” said Jim Miley, director-general of the IUA. “This is unacceptable.”

“There needs to be greater urgency in closing the funding gap in higher education,” he said, while calling for “an accelerated funding programme” to reduce student-to-staff ratios. “At a time of major challenge to our economy, investment in higher education and research is absolutely critical to the future supply of our talent and our capacity to compete as a knowledge economy,” Miley added.

Other academics expressed dissatisfaction with the total amount spent by the government in higher education. “The higher education system in Ireland is grossly underfunded,” said Linda Doyle, Trinity College Dublin’s provost and president, on social messaging website Twitter. “We must be far more ambitious for higher education than what was announced [in the budget].”

In terms of supporting students, the government announced a once-off reduction in undergraduate fees by €1,000 for the current academic year, as well as increases in several income-based grants for students.

These measures were generally welcomed, but academics say more needs to be done to support students.

“The reduction in student fees will greatly benefit students and families entering and returning to higher education this year,” said Joseph Ryan, CEO of Ireland’s Technological Higher Education Association.

“However,” he said, “any reduction in student payments must be balanced by full restoration of these to each higher education institution, as the fees are used for student tuition, student services, and other supports. The student experience will suffer if that funding is not provided in other ways to institutions.”

The government also announced a €500 increase in PhD stipends for students, funded by Science Foundation Ireland and the Irish Research Council, a measure that has drawn widespread criticism from students and academics. This increase is “grossly inadequate”, said Mark Rogers, acting president of University College Dublin, in an article for the University Times.

“€500 won’t help PhDs not funded by SFI and IRC—half of all PhDs,” said the PhD’s Collective Action Union. “PhDs have no access to other budget measures.”

A version of this article appeared in Research Europe

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Annual report shows growth in collaboration and investment

Ireland ranks second in the world for immunology research, and third in both agricultural sciences and neuroscience and behaviour, based on publication statistics by InCites.

InCites, a citation-based tool by Clarivate, supplied data for the latest annual report by Science Foundation Ireland, the country’s national research funder for physical sciences and life sciences (Research Europe is an editorially independent part of Ex Libris, which is owned by Clarivate).

In 2021, SFI-funded researchers in Ireland published 5,384 papers and completed over 4,300 public engagement activities, the report found. In the same year, 5,708 international academic collaborations involving 84 countries were reported by researchers funded by SFI.

Over two-thirds (68 per cent) of these collaborations were with European researchers, followed by North America-based (18 per cent) and Asia-based (8 per cent) researchers.

In total, 6,201 people worked on SFI-supported projects during this time frame, with over 40,000 jobs supported, “directly and indirectly”, by the funder, the report said.

2021 also saw an investment of €222 million by SFI aimed at supporting research as well as industry collaborations. This investment generated a further €234m of external funding, including from the EU (€82.2m), charities and other sources, the data showed.

The year also saw a continued focus on commercialisation of research, with 13 spin-out companies funded, 68 patents filed, 90 technologies licenced, and 204 inventions disclosed, the report stated.

“The achievements outlined in the 2021 SFI annual report illustrate the determination of our research community to make significant contributions to society, the economy and to improve lives,” said Peter Clinch, chairman of the SFI board.

The report was welcomed by Philip Nolan, director of the SFI, who said the SFI “has driven outstanding research  and collaboration to make knowledge useful, growing industry partnerships and working to better inform policy, ensuring all of Ireland’s people benefit from public investment”.

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This week: Maynooth student centre scrapped, forced migration research and Young Academy’s membership push

In depth: Universities across Ireland have condemned the government’s latest budget as offering too little funding to close what they describe as a considerable finance gap.

Full story: Latest budget deemed ‘very disappointing’ by universities

Also this week from Research Professional News

Ireland second in the world for immunology research—Annual report shows growth in collaboration and investment

Here is the rest of the Irish news this week…

Maynooth University scraps plans for student centre

Due to a lack of funding, a planned student centre in Maynooth University will no longer go ahead. The university cited “rapidly escalating costs linked to technical construction issues as well as hyperinflation” as the reasons for the decision. The centre was supposed to provide informal social and learning spaces for students, as well as a space for clubs and societies.

Research on forced migration

A newly launched centre in Trinity College Dublin will use a “multidisciplinary and interdisciplinary” approach to research forced migration, also known as trafficking. The Trinity Centre for Forced Migration Studies aims to establish volunteer networks drawing on existing expertise in the university and will develop teaching and training tools for people and organisations supporting refugees.

Young Academy seeking new members

A network of early career researchers is seeking more members. The Young Academy of Ireland aims to foster interdisciplinary collaboration between early career researchers from all disciplines in academia or industry, focusing on tackling societal challenges. Applications to join the Young Academy can be submitted until 7 October, the outfit said.

The post Ireland news roundup: 20 September to 3 October appeared first on Research Professional News.