Funding worth €69 million has been announced for Irish-based research groups, writes Dick Ahlstrom
The State funding now flowing into research laboratories is beginning to have a significant impact on our ability to conduct world-class science. It is fulfilling its promise both to build up new centres and to bring Irish researchers working abroad back home to take up career opportunities that in the past simply weren't available.
The Tánaiste, Mary Harney, last week announced €69 million funding allocated by Science Foundation Ireland (SFI). This brings to more than €320 million the support provided via SFI and adds to the €560 million allocated by the Programme for Research in Third-Level Institutions run by the Higher Education Authority.
The two key SFI announcements were both Centres for Science, Engineering and Technology (CSETs). One went to Trinity College Dublin for the study of nanotechnology, and a second to NUI Galway for research into gene therapy and stem cells. The CSET awards are described above and below.
There were other awards, including an extra €11 million for TCD for a specialised nanotech research facility. Another €8.5 million was allocated for three new research professorships under the SFI Fellows-Research Professorship programme. The three include Dr Daniel E. Geraghty from the Fred Hutchinson Cancer Research Centre in Seattle and Prof Alexander Stewart Fotheringham from the University of Newcastle, who have both been recruited to NUI Maynooth. The third is Prof J. Oliver Dolly, recruited from Imperial College London, who will join Dublin City University.