Dáil Éireann Debate, Thursday - 7 July 2022
278. Deputy Gary Gannon asked the Minister for Further and Higher Education, Research, Innovation and Science if the recently announced Innovate for Ireland partnership will be open to applications from persons conducting PhD research in the arts and humanities; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [36965/22]
Amharc ar fhreagraThe Taoiseach and I recently launched innovate for Ireland, this is a new partnership between industry and the Government to recruit and retain research talent to Ireland.
Innovate for Ireland will commence in 2023 and the initial phase will seek to attract up to 400 high calibre PhD students to undertake research in Ireland that tackles national and global grand challenges such as climate change and climate adaptation; global health and pandemics; water poverty; digital society; cyber-security.
The programme will embrace all relevant disciplines from Science, Technology and Engineering to Arts, Humanities and Social Sciences. It will also support excellent curiosity-driven research.
The Irish Research Council and Health Research Board will also participate in the programme and this will be important in supporting the themes selected and the inter-disciplinary nature of the research.
This programme aligns with my Department's Strategy Statement 2021-2023 and also the strategic goals of the Government’s recently launched R&I strategy, Impact 2030.
The next step in implementing this proposal will be a competitive call for proposals from consortia of Higher Education Institutions, this is being developed and should be initiated later this year. Work has been undertaken by my Department, the Higher Education Authority, Irish Research Council, Science Foundation Ireland, Health Research Board and private sponsors on devising a possible call framework.
