Dáil Éireann Debate, Thursday - 20 May 2021
152. Deputy Éamon Ó Cuív asked the Minister for Further and Higher Education, Research, Innovation and Science if he plans to increase the proportion of dedicated research funds that are provided annually towards blue skies research to ensure that Ireland attracts and retains top scientists in the country; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [25446/21]
View answerMy Department and its agencies are significant funders of research, accounting for over half of the €869.2 million Government investment in research, development and innovation in 2019. Government investment in R&D includes funding for programmes that encompass all disciplines and all types of research. It should be noted that public funding for research is awarded according to the criteria set out in the various funding programmes operated by research funders irrespective of whether the research is basic or applied.
Public funding for basic research comes from many sources, including significant funding through the block grant from my Department through the Higher Education Authority, and through programmes operated by the Irish Research Council and Science Foundation Ireland (SFI).
The most recent survey of Higher Education Expenditure on R&D, published in January 2021, showed that basic research accounted for 40% or the research spend in the higher education sector, or €350 million in 2018.
The Irish Research Council’s mandate supports excellent blue-skies research across all disciplines and career stages. A key action of Innovation 2020 was the establishment of the Council’s Laureate Awards, designed to address the lack of funding for frontier basic research across all disciplines. There has been a 22.5% increase in the Council’s budget for 2021, including increased investment for the Laureate Awards. Providing opportunities for early-career researchers to conduct blue-skies research in our research and higher education institutions is key to the development of future research leaders.
The Council makes in the region of 300 awards to exceptional postgraduate scholars and postdoctoral fellows each year, with each round of awards annually representing an investment in the region of €21 million. Additional awards are made in association with strategic funding partners, including the Environmental Protection agency. A new Laureate Awards call for early-mid career stages will open in 2021 leading to a further investment of €20 million. This will be followed by a Laureate call for senior career stage researchers in 2022.
SFI funds oriented basic and applied research in the areas of science, technology, engineering and mathematics. Early this year I launched SFI’s new strategy - Shaping Our Future, which seeks to support our objective to be an Innovation Leader in research and innovation as set out in Our Shared Future, the programme for Government. There is a clear emphasis within the strategy on a balanced portfolio of research, from early-stage researchers and frontiers research, attracting and supporting talent, to deepening partnerships with enterprise, increased collaboration at a national and international level, and further development of our SFI Research Centres.
My Department has been working with SFI to support the implementation of this ambitious strategy and secure additional funds for research and innovation. Progress can be seen through the recently published annual plan for the agency for 2021. SFI has outlined a balanced portfolio with its approved budget. Funding of discovery/frontiers research is central to the agency’s activities. Late last year, SFI announced funding of 71 research frontiers awards under its SFI Frontiers for the Future Programme. This programme is currently active and open for new applications.
The Irish Research Council, working with SFI and key stakeholders, also seeks to support maximum success for Irish researchers in the prestigious European Research Council (ERC) award schemes. At the outset of Horizon 2020, Ireland set an ambitious target of securing €100 million in ERC funding, this target was stretched to €125 million as Ireland continued to outperform expectations. The Irish Research Council funds and jointly operates the Irish Marie Sklodowska-Curie Actions (MSCA) office, which supports funding success for Ireland based early-career researchers in MSCA which is a key source of European funding for blue skies research across all disciplines. This successful partnership has contributed to more than €195 million of funding coming into Ireland under Horizon 2020. It is the area of highest drawdown for Ireland under Horizon 2020 and Ireland ranks second in drawdown per capita after Denmark. MSCA will continue to be a key source of investment for the next European framework programme.
The Dublin Institute of Advanced Studies is a statutory corporation established in 1940 under the Institute for Advanced Studies Act, 1940. The Institute has three constituent schools – the School of Celtic Studies, the School of Theoretical Physics and the School of Cosmic Physics, each with an independent governing board. The Institute, through the constituent schools, pursues fundamental research and trains students in advanced methods of original research.
The establishment of this new Department recognised the potential and the necessity for increased focus and investment in research in Ireland. As mentioned in the programme for government, we will endeavour to make Ireland a more attractive location as a base for academic research and researchers. We want research based in Ireland to be at the forefront of the next phase of disruptive technologies, leading rather than following the technological revolution, while also being a centre for foundational and discovery research.
I am delighted that SFI, which has traditionally focused on the STEM areas, the Irish Research Council which funds researchers at all stages across all disciplines, and the Higher Education Authority, which administers the core grant to higher education institutes are already working more closely together under the auspices of my new Department.
A priority over the coming months will be to develop a new national research and innovation strategy which will position research and innovation as a key enabler of our economic recovery and transition to a knowledge-based, sustainable economy and fairer society. It will prioritise cohesion and collaboration across the research and innovation system and my Department will seek to optimise funding which will ensure a balanced portfolio of excellent research across the full continuum, embracing all disciplines and, increasingly important, at the interface between disciplines.
