Science Foundation Ireland to review inquiry findings into misconduct allegations against Prof Philip Nolan

The board of Science Foundation Ireland (SFI) is to consider the findings of an investigation into misconduct allegations made by senior staff against its director general Prof Philip Nolan.

The State-funded research agency, which oversees the awarding of more than €200 million in grants, confirmed that it received five protected disclosures in late December.

The allegations have been denied by Prof Nolan, who is due to take over an expanded national research group, Research Ireland, based on an amalgamation of SFI and the Irish Research Council. He was unavailable for comment on Friday.

Prof Nolan came to public prominence while serving as a high-profile member of the National Public Health Emergency Team during the Covid pandemic.

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Details of the independent investigation, published in the Irish Independent, state that Prof Nolan was found not to be in breach of corporate governance and did not make any findings of misconduct against him or find that his conduct constituted bullying.

However, the investigation is reported to have concluded that he displayed “inappropriate behaviour” towards the staff concerned which was at the “upper level” in respect of two senior staff.

In a statement, SFI said it takes the reporting and investigation of the reports very seriously and was committed to the importance of a “fair, thorough, and robust process”.

“A key element of this process is to ensure, in accordance with applicable law and guidance for public bodies dealing with protected disclosures, the protection of the identity and any identifying information in respect of those making the reports, a breach of which obligation is a criminal offence,” it said.

The SFI board established a protective disclosures group which began its investigation in January, which involved communicating with all involved and carrying out an initial assessment of the reports before proceeding to an investigation. This included hiring an independent investigator to assist with the process.

“An extensive fact-finding investigation was carried out by that independent investigator over the course of the following months,” said SFI. “The investigator reported to the PDG [protected disclosure group] at the end of March and the PDG reported to the board of SFI in April. The SFI board is now taking steps to address the findings and recommendations made.”

A Science Foundation Ireland spokeswoman said the process remains ongoing and it had legal duties to all parties in this process, each of whom is entitled to a fair process. It said it was not in a position to reveal identifying information in respect of any party.

She added that the SFI board at all times follows the highest standards of corporate governance.

“SFI has a comprehensive internal audit process. There is no evidence of any breach of good corporate governance at SFI. SFI is fully operational and continues to deliver on its mandate to fund and support excellent and impactful research and innovation for the benefit of Ireland’s economy and society.”

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