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MINISTERS ANNOUNCE NEW NORTH/SOUTH RESEARCH AGREEMENT

The Irish Minister for Jobs, Enterprise and Innovation Minister, Richard

Bruton TD and the Employment and Learning Minister for Northern Ireland, Dr

Stephen Farry MLA, today (Wednesday) signed a ground-breaking Collaboration

Agreement which will allow Queen’s University and the University of Ulster

to participate as full academic partners in Science Foundation Ireland’s

well-established and highly prestigious, “Investigators Programme”.

The new “SFI/DEL Investigators Programme Partnership” will support

collaborative projects involving universities from both jurisdictions to

undertake internationally peer reviewed, leading edge, discovery and

fundamental research.

Speaking at the announcement, Minister for Jobs, Enterprise & Innovation,

Mr Richard Bruton TD, said: “This new ‘SFI/DEL Investigators Programme

Partnership’ will benefit the island of Ireland both socially and

economically. Improving our research and development infrastructure is a

key priority for both Governments, and a key pillar upon which the Irish

Government’s Action Plan for Jobs is built. Building upon our current

achievements in the sector and delivering partnerships which allow for the

improvement and sharing of knowledge will only heighten the potential for

economic and societal impact on an all-island basis.”

Dr Farry added: “I am grateful to the Minister, and to Professor Mark

Ferguson, for their generous offer of collaboration in such an important

and high-profile research programme.

“I am pleased to announce that my Department is making available funding of

up to £8.4 million over the next six years to enable Queen’s and Ulster to

participate in the next two annual calls, the first of which is due to be

published by SFI next month.

“This is an extremely timely development, building on the success of my

Department’s “Strengthening the all-Island Research Base” programme, while

also providing real opportunity to develop new cross-border research

collaborations with the potential, in the longer term, to bring further

success under Horizon 2020 - the European Commission’s latest research

framework programme and a major priority for both Governments.”

Professor Mark Ferguson, Director General of SFI and Chief Scientific

Adviser to the Irish Government, commented: “We are very pleased to see the

Investigators Programme become accessible to even more members of Ireland’s

talented scientific community. This partnership is a key stepping stone in

helping Ireland maximise its potential funding opportunities under Horizon

2020. It will enable Ireland’s scientific community to work together on an

all-island basis, create efficiencies by reducing the duplication of

research and assist in the sharing of important new knowledge. The move

towards building Ireland’s international reputation is linked heavily to

partnerships such as this which offer the scientific community in Ireland,

promising new opportunities.”

For further information, please contact:

Media enquiries in the Republic of Ireland should be directed to Press

Office, Dept. of Jobs, Enterprise and Innovation - 6312200.

Media enquiries in Northern Ireland should be directed to the Department

for Employment and Learning Communications Branch on 028 9025 7872. Out of

office hours contact the Executive Information Service Duty Press Officer

via pager number 07699 715 440.