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.