merrion street

Minister for Research and Innovation Seán Sherlock TD today, (Wednesday), announced the appointment of Mr Feargal Ó Móráin as the new Irish co-chair to the US-Ireland R&D Partnership Steering Group. The announcement coincides with a visit by the US co-chair to the Steering Group, Dr. Kerri-Ann Jones, Assistant Secretary of State for the United States Bureau of Oceans and International Environmental and Scientific Affairs, in Dublin this week for a series of engagements around the Earth Gathering in UCD.

The US-Ireland R&D Partnership, established in 2006 and based on principles of the Good Friday Agreement, involves the governments of the United States of America, Ireland and Northern Ireland working together to advance scientific progress by awarding grants for research on a competitive basis. The Steering Group, including representatives of the three jurisdictions, guides collaborative efforts under the Partnership and reflecting the partnership ethos has a co-chair from each of the three jurisdictions.

Speaking at the announcement, Minister Sherlock said:

“I am delighted that Feargal Ó Móráin has accepted this appointment as Irish co-chair of the US Ireland R&D Partnership Steering Group. Feargal brings a wealth of personal experience to the position having recently retired as an Executive Director of Enterprise Ireland with responsibility for the Agency’s national mandate in relation to Technology Transfer and R&D and this followed on a very noteworthy career in the industrial development agencies in Ireland.

“I would also like to take this opportunity to thank Dr Killian Halpin for his uncompromising commitment to the Partnership which has contributed in no small part to growing it to the success that it is today. Killian has been a mainstay as Irish co-chair to the US-Ireland R&D Partnership Steering Group since its establishment.

“The US-Ireland Partnership continues to go from strength to strength and close cooperation has been developed between Government Departments and Agencies, north and south of the border and with our US counterparts. Since 2009, fourteen projects had been awarded a total of €22.2 million from a combination of sources and these projects have brought together over 50 principal and co-principal investigators from 8 universities and research institutes in Ireland, 2 Northern Ireland universities and 17 US institutions”.

Professor Mark Ferguson, Director General of Science Foundation Ireland (Principal funder of Partnership projects in Ireland) and Chief Scientific Adviser to the Government, added:

“The US-Ireland programme has provided a great opportunity for Irish researchers to develop funded collaborations with partners in the US and NI. These collaborations have enabled researchers to leverage non-exchequer funding and access facilities, data and biobanks, for example, that would otherwise not have been available to them. Furthermore, it has facilitated student exchange which greatly enhances the postgraduate training experience in areas relevant to Irish industry. The success of the US-Ireland R&D Partnership Programme particularly in recent months is validation of the excellence of the research on-going in Ireland, as all submissions undergo extensive international peer review at NSF (US National Science Foundation) or NIH (US National Institutes of Health).

“The most recent expansion of the US-Ireland programme to encompass the broader area of Health has opened the programme to a wider community and we look forward to increased success in this space. Having developed relationships with partner US agencies under the US-Ireland R&D Partnership Programme, SFI has expanded the collaborations, for example recently with the National Science Foundation’s GROW programme which enables leading US scientists to spend time undertaking research in laboratories in Ireland.”

ENDS

Notes to the Editors

US-Ireland R&D Partnership

The US-Ireland R&D Partnership was formally launched in July 2006, having being developed on foot of commitments made at the US Ireland Business Summit held in Washington in September 2002. The Partnership involves the governments of the United States of America, Ireland and Northern Ireland working together to advance scientific progress by awarding grants for research on a competitive basis. Areas of focus for collaboration include health, telecommunications and energy. The Partnership is helping to link scientists and engineers in partnerships across academia and industry to address crucial research questions in these areas, foster the potential for new and existing technology companies, attract industry that could make an important contribution to the three economies and expand educational and career opportunities in science and engineering. This research is intended to generate discoveries and innovations which will lead to economic development or will lead to enhancements in health promotion, disease prevention and healthcare.

In 2005, a Steering Group was established, representing the three jurisdictions to guide collaborative efforts under the Partnership. The Steering Group’s members are representative of business, academia and the public sector in the three jurisdictions. Members and co-chairs are appointed on a pro bono basis and the Steering Group is supported by InterTrade Ireland, given its R&D mandate and capability in this area. The Steering Group identified a set of guiding principles to develop a durable research partnership between the three jurisdictions.

The principles of the Partnership are:

· Each of the projects supported will have significant research participation from each of the three jurisdictions;

· Research excellence is fundamental and this will be ensured by utilising the competitive peer review systems of the National Science Foundation and the National Institutes of Health, which are gold standards for quality in scientific peer review; and

· There will be joint funding – whereby each participating funding agency will only support the research carried out in its own jurisdiction.

Central to the process is the use of the highly competitive proposal review procedures of the US National Science Foundation and the National Institutes of Health, which guarantees that only research of the highest quality will receive funding.

The work invested in developing the Partnership is paying off. Close cooperation has been developed between Agencies and Departments, north and south of the border and with their US counterparts. Initially, the main focus was on challenges in four areas agreed by the three jurisdictions; Nanotechnology; Sensor technology; Cystic fibrosis; Diabetes. At its meeting in November, 2011, the Steering Group endorsed extension of the partnership process to include projects in telecommunications and energy and the wider health area.

Up to August 2013, fourteen projects had been awarded a total of €22.2m or £19.2m or $29m from a combination of sources including the US National Science Foundation and the National Institutes of Health; Science Foundation Ireland (SFI) and the Health Research Board (HRB) in Ireland; and, in Northern Ireland, Health and Social Care R&D, in partnership with the Medical Research Council, the Department of Employment and Learning and Invest NI. These projects have brought together over 50 principal and co-principal investigators from 2 Northern Ireland universities, 8 universities and institutes in Ireland and 17 U.S. institutions. At this time, there are also a number of further proposals in the project pipeline.

Moreover, a review of the staffing for successful projects in early 2013 indicated that there were 34 Northern Ireland based staff and 39 Ireland based staff directly involved in US-Ireland R&D Partnership projects. These are all high value, highly skilled jobs.

Mr Feargal Ó Móráin

Feargal Ó Móráin has been appointed as the new Irish co-chair for the US-Ireland R&D Partnership effective from 1 November 2013. Feargal retired from his position as an Executive Director of Enterprise Ireland in 2012 following a career in the industrial development agencies in Ireland. In the years’ prior to his retirement, Feargal was responsible for implementing the Agency’s national mandate in relation to Technology Transfer and R&D (annual budget of €150m) as well as having overall responsibilities for the management and development of the Agency’s extensive investments in Private sector equity funds and in start-up and established Enterprise Ireland client companies (value of portfolio in excess of €250m). He was also responsible for a number of corporate functions including Finance, HR and Corporate Planning. He served as chairman of the Committee responsible for allocating R&D grants to client companies for over 15 years and was also chairman of the Industrial Research Committee responsible for allocating funding to research projects with a clear commercial objective in the third level sector and investing in the technology transfer infrastructure in the State.

The other two Irish members of the US-Ireland R&D Partnership Steering Group are Professor Mark Ferguson, Director General of Science Foundation Ireland (SFI) and Chief Scientific Adviser to the Government and Enda Connolly, Chief Executive of the Health Research Board (HRB).