According TO the new growth theory of economics, knowledge has a unique economic characteristic - it is accumulative, unlike the natural resources with which it is often compared. "Knowledge builds upon itself," explains Professor Tom Boylan of NUI Galway. Boylan has recently been appointed first dean of research at the college. "It doesn't become depleted as natural resources do." Sitting in his spacious office, fighting flu, Boylan remarks how comfortable he feels as an economist working as dean of research. Third-level research, he says, has become a very costly affair, particularly in science, engineering and medicine. Economic issues will be to the fore in the allocation of research funding, he says.

However, he stresses, "I don't want to subscribe to the ideology that research should be subjected exclusively to economic calculus." That, he argues, would be a very short-sighted view to take. The establishment of the post of dean of research came about as a result of a task-force report on the future of NUIG, published in 1996. This, Boylan says, fed into the strategic plan that was launched in 1997.

This 10-year plan identifies 10 areas for development, including research. Last year, an international research group - which included experts from Norway, Britain and the Institute of Advanced Studies in Dublin, was invited to examine the university's research. "They looked at the whole process of research across the university and produced a report which was both constructive and critical. "The group noted high research standards, but made a number of recommendations on the level of resourcing. They said that in common with every Irish university, we needed to articulate a more specific policy, which is both explicit and visible," Boylan says. The group also highlighted the need both to increase internal and external research funding and to create research clusters. "NUI Galway has gone through an extremely systematic process of external and internal strategic examination," the dean of research notes. "Our research was not emerging in a vacuum; it was very much embedded within the comprehensive strategic review."

Phase one of the review is now complete and five major areas of research have been identified: biomedical engineering, the Centre for Human Rights, the International Centre for Irish Studies, marine science and the Institute for Rural Development.

"These represent areas in which we have expertise and on which we will build further," Boylan says.

NUIG's internal research budget consists of the Millennium Research Fund, worth £250,000 annually, post-graduate fellowships worth £500,000 per annum and the "Triennial Grants", which are given to each staff member to cover travel costs to conferences. As dean of research, Boylan says he will be fighting on behalf of researchers for increased funding. Money apart, ensuring that staff have the space and the time to work on research is vital, he stresses. "The problem of space - laboratories, libraries and offices - is perennial. And research is obsessively jealous of time. We have to look at how we can make time available to researchers against a background of a situation where student numbers are continually being increased."

Although NUIG has identified its centres of research excellence, the dean of research believes that the role of the individual researcher is crucial. Research centres must not be developed at their expense, he says; individual researchers create new areas of research, which may in time develop into research clusters. "We have to facilitate both kinds of research," he observes.

College research, Boylan says, will continue to undergo external review. "It's something that should be done regularly."