Dáil Éireann Debate, Tuesday - 20 October 2020
489. Deputy Bernard J. Durkan asked the Minister for Further and Higher Education, Research, Innovation and Science the efforts being made to ensure the availability of an adequate supply of graduates at third and fourth level in order to attract inward investment here in the specialised areas of medical science; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [31670/20]
Amharc ar fhreagraScience Foundation Ireland has commenced a programme to support advanced skills and training (PhDs), in collaboration with industry, for the new economy. The agency has invested over €100m in 6 SFI Centres for Research Training. The 6 SFI Centres for Research Training will provide training for over 700 postgraduate students (over a lifetime of 7.5 years) in the areas of Machine Learning, Digitally Enhanced Reality, Foundations of Data Science, Genomics Data Science, Artificial Intelligence and Advanced Network for Sustainable Societies. Students will be equipped with transversal skills including entrepreneurship and innovation to enable them to adapt and react to rapidly evolving workplaces and making them a very attractive skills pipeline for industry.
The role of ICT in health and healthcare is increasingly critical. Many of the highly skilled graduates from these 6 SFI Centres for Research Training may well emerge with skills of relevance to areas of medical science. Of particular note is the SFI Centre for Research Training in Genomics Data Science which is hosted by the National University of Ireland, Galway. This SFI Centre for Research Training will produce a cohort of highly trained scientists capable of engaging effectively with the data science challenges involved in realising the transformative potential of genomics across the broad range of its applications.
Both research and innovation are needed to power Ireland’s knowledge economy and create a sustainable, competitive, and more broadly-based economy which will be resilient to future challenges and address important societal needs. SFI has developed a suite of dynamic funding programmes which facilitate industry/academic collaboration. These funding programmes enable companies and academics to work together on specific programmes of research to address industry needs, support technology transfer and grow skills and expertise. The network of 16 SFI Research Centres, which are part of our higher education institutions, are a critical part of this landscape, and through their reputation as homes of world class research and training attract and retain foreign direct investment in Ireland, and help grow indigenous industry, with research excellence and global thought leadership at their core. One example is FutureNeuro, the SFI Research Centre for Chronic and Rare Neurological Diseases which is hosted by the Royal College of Surgeons in Ireland. The Centre conducts research in the thematic areas of diagnostics, therapeutics and eHealth for chronic and rare neurological diseases. FutureNeuro is already attracting industry attention and is working with partners such as Roche, Janssen and Microsoft.
SFI’s annual plan of funding programmes is designed to ensure that the agency maintains a balanced portfolio which places an emphasis on early and advanced research careers, frontiers/discovery and applied research, research projects that are led by individuals and small groups as well as large scale research centres. These programmes, such as the SFI Frontiers for the Future Programme ensure that we are training PhD students in areas of fundamental science which will be the foundations upon which innovations and economic competitiveness can grow in the future.
