DIT has opened a new €10m research institute in the city where resources are shared across scientific disciplines. Dick Ahlstrom reports.
The long-standing advice is to avoid putting everything into the one basket, but the Dublin Institute of Technology takes a different view. It has launched a new €10.4 million centre that pools research expertise and facilities at a single location.
"The philosophy is to make maximum use of the space and the equipment," says Dr Hugh Byrne, facility manager of the new Focas Institute at DIT, Kevin Street. "The philosophy behind it was putting everything in the one place, there is an infrastructure that tries to address the common research themes," he says.
The chief science adviser to the Government, Dr Barry McSweeney opened the new centre that will serve research initiatives under eight headings, each with a research group. These include:
Radiation and environmental science
Biomedical and environmental sensing
Materials synthesis and applications
Physics of molecular materials
Holographic photopolymers
Solar energy and nanophysics and surfaces
Centre for Research in Engineering and Surface Technology
Communications Network Research Institute
The latter two are funded by Enterprise Ireland while the overall Focas initiative was funded under the Higher Education Authority's Programme for Research in Third Level Institutions Cycle 1. Allied Irish Banks contributed €4m of the total under the terms of a Public Private Partnership, says Byrne.
The idea behind Focas is that the various research groups will share core laboratory resources, for example sample prep labs, spectroscopy and microscopy labs and other costly equipment.
The requirement for many of these is common across the key scientific disciplines whether in the pure, biological or engineering sciences, says Byrne.
More importantly however Focas will be a place for the meeting of minds, an idea-mill brought about by the synergy that develops between researchers using the facility.
"Cross fertilisation is important," Byrne states. "We are trying to bring out thematic synergies. It is a platform from which any individual or group can build collaborations." In this regard it doesn't matter whether these are all in-house or linkages to third parties outside.
The structure is purpose-built with lots of meeting space, he says. "The building doesn't house many of the academic staff but it does support graduates, post-graduates and post-docs. The accommodation is divided half and half between desk space and lab space. "There is room for about 100 research students and space for another 50 in the labs," says Byrne.
He sees a situation where interaction develops between local researchers and scientists working in the universities and other institutes around the State. He expects contacts with industrial partners will also grow under the Focas banner.
Located on Camden Row behind Kevin Street, Focas started life with the unwieldy title, Facility for Optical Characterisation and Spectroscopy. Wisely, DIT decided to go with the acronym alone, a word that implies a focus on research and resources but also is the Irish for focus, Byrne explains.
The new Institute represents a one-stop-shop for complete materials and sample preparation and characterisation. Focas consolidates work previously conducted on seven sites across the DIT.