merrion street

The Minister for Agriculture, Food and the Marine, Simon Coveney, TD, today announced a new Call for Research Proposals under the Department’s three competitive research funding programmes - FIRM, Stimulus and CoFoRD.

The Minister said that “the objective of this Call is to build and maintain research capacity and capability in the Irish public research system that contributes to underpinning the sustainability and competitiveness and further development of the Irish agri-food, forestry and fisheries sectors”.

The areas covered by Call 2014 include animal and crop health and production, horticulture, food and health, sustainable aquaculture production, novel ingredients and safety of marine origin foods, forest production and management, and the wider bio-economy as well as the safety, quality, integrity and sustainability of the supply chain. The content of the Call is heavily informed by strategic research agendas drawn up by industry led research advisory groups operated by the Department. It is also well aligned to priority areas identified in the Government’s National Research Prioritisation Exercise. Following on from significant awards of €65 million in agri-food and forest research over the last two years, the Minister reiterated his commitment to targeted research and innovation within the sector, saying "Publicly funded research will continue to play a key role in driving innovation within the Bio-economy thus contributing to the achievement of the growth targets outlined in Food Harvest 2020 and ultimately making a positive contribution to the Government’s Action Plan for Jobs”.

The Minister concluded by wishing applicants every success with their applications and stated “I have no doubt that the Research Community will take full advantage of this opportunity by submitting excellent proposals and I look forward to following the process over the coming months”. The deadline for proposal applications is Thursday 8th May at 1.00pm. All documentation in relation to the Call is available on the Research Section of the Department’s website www.agriculture.gov.ie/research

Notes for editor:

Food Institutional Research Measure (FIRM) is the main programme for funding food research in research performing organisations in Ireland including Teagasc and the Higher Education Institutes (HEI) thereby contributing to building and maintaining a research capability that helps underpin a vibrant, competitive and innovative food manufacturing industry.

Stimulus aims to facilitate research that fills gaps in the mainstream Teagasc programme, supports sustainable and competitive agricultural production practices and policies, and contributes to building and maintaining a knowledge economy and research capability in the agriculture sector.

Programme of Competitive Forestry Research for Development (CoFoRD) aims to develop a scientific foundation and support for a sustainable, competitive, market orientated and innovative forest industry.