Investment in tech research welcomed, with reservations
A €460 million (approximately US$533.9 million) investment by the Irish government in seven advanced tech research centres has been welcomed by university leaders but treated with reservations and even distrust by a significant number of faculty members.
The centres form part of a massive €4.55 billion strategic fund framework which has sparked widespread protests for allegedly being too industry-centred, commercially focused and profit-seeking. The framework is the brainchild of Research Ireland (RI), the state agency set up in 2024 from a merger of two previous bodies.
More than 2,400 academics and researchers have signed an open letter describing the new strategy as an assault on Ireland’s research ecosystem.
It said the strategies’ priorities marginalise Arts, Humanities and Social Sciences (AHSS) and fundamental science and minimise the value of curiosity-driven research.
The strategy also fell far short of acknowledging parity of esteem between Science, Technology, Engineering, and Mathematics (STEM) and the arts and humanities sector “which was mostly included as a user and stakeholder rather than as a significant producer of knowledge and research”, the letter stated.
Consternation regarding the RI strategy
One of the first signatories, Professor Jane Ohlmeyer, Erasmus Smith’s Professor of Modern History at Trinity College Dublin, said there was considerable disquiet in the wake of the RI strategic plan when it was published in March this year.
But it was the recent decision to devolve the Government of Ireland awards (postgraduate and postdoctoral) into block grants for individual institutions that really triggered the open letter, added Ohlmeyer, who had chaired the Irish Research Council before it was folded into Research Ireland.
The Irish Humanities Alliance said this particular decision caused consternation across all sectors – STEM and AHSS. It claimed the proposed change seemed to sidestep peer review and could result in a decrease in the number of highly qualified international applicants.
However, the chief executive of Research Ireland, Dr Diarmuid O’Brien, strongly denied that in future all research will be required to demonstrate economic utility. He also rejected claims that reductions are planned for some disciplines and for PhD students. Funding decisions will continue to be based on competitive peer review with oversight, insisted O’Brien, former pro vice-chancellor (innovation) at Cambridge University.
He said that a number of immediate actions will be taken to support implementation and strengthen engagement with the strategy outlined in “Curiosity Capability Competitiveness: Charting Ireland's Research and Innovation Future 2026 to 2030”. These include the establishment of an advisory council, convening a meeting with deans of arts, humanities and social sciences, and developing a new societal initiative of scale in consultation with the sector.
Referring to the open letter, he said: “I want to continue the conversation, to better understand concerns, and to ensure clarity as we move forward. I look forward to meeting researchers over the coming weeks to engage in constructive discussions and how best to implement our commitments.”
He also said that the new centres announced this week included significant investment in both discovery and multidisciplinary research while actively bridging the gap between insight and real-world impact.
Spanning Advanced Therapies, Artificial Intelligence, Energy, Medical Devices, Pharma & Biopharma, Quantum and Semiconductors, the centres will support 577 research positions, develop over 800 PhDs, and involve 17 research-performing organisations in a coordinated, collaborative national effort of unprecedented scale.
Forming an enhanced national research network
They form an enhanced national research network, called ‘RINN’, the Irish word for a point, tip or headland. They will involve research, radical collaboration and deep connectivity at scale across the research institutions, industry, government, public sector bodies and the broader higher education and research system.
Minister for Further and Higher Education, Research, Innovation and Science, James Lawless, said there was also €500 million in additional funding to be leveraged from industry and other sources, with support from over 200 industry partners, comprising over 100 multinational corporations and almost 100 small and medium enterprises.
“With these seven new RINN centres, we are building on progress by supporting talent, strengthening industry partnerships, attracting foreign direct investment, advancing indigenous industry growth, promoting regional development, and enabling Ireland to remain internationally competitive,” he added.
Reservations remain about industry funding
But the proof is in the pudding, as in the eating, as far as Ohlmeyer is concerned. She told University World News: “My question is, will the equivalent investment be made in the disciplines doing frontier research – STEM, as well as AHSS – not covered by the RINN centres and not aligned with industry?”
Dr Jennie Stephens, professor of climate justice at Maynooth University, said it was a sad day for Ireland’s future when almost €500 million in public money was allocated towards so much industry-focused, commercialisable, tech-focused entrepreneurial research.
“Shouldn’t public research funds be spent on the research areas that industry will not fund? Why is so much public money and our public universities being used to advance the R&D agendas of large multinational companies?”
She suggested that people should imagine an alternative future if Research Ireland were to invest in focused areas that represented the diversity of the Irish research community and were better aligned with urgent societal needs and Ireland’s history, language and culture.
Some sources told University World News that the row might have been avoided if parts of the language in the strategy had been more “judiciously phrased”, but others insisted that there were fundamental principles involved about the use of public funds.
The Irish Federation of University Teachers (IFUT), the main trade union representing academic staff and researchers, has welcomed Research Ireland’s response to the open letter and to its stated commitment to continued dialogue. “We also note the assurances provided regarding support for discovery-led research, AHSS disciplines and the maintenance of research funding levels,” it said.
However, it claimed the central concern raised by the union and many researchers had not been fully addressed. “Our concern has never been solely about the content of individual funding programmes.
“Rather, it relates to the process through which major decisions affecting the research ecosystem, career pathways and the working lives of researchers are developed and implemented,” said IFUT general secretary Frank Jones after a meeting of staff from various institutions held in Trinity College Dublin to discuss the situation.