INVESTMENT
Irish scientists given EUR12m for R&D
29-05-2003
by Andrew McLindon
Funding of EUR12 million is to be given to 88 third-level research projects in the technology, engineering and science areas.
The Basic Research Grants Scheme, which is jointly funded by Enterprise Ireland and the Irish Research Council's Embark Initiative, is aimed mainly at early stage researchers.
According to Martin Hynes, director of the Embark Initiative, the purpose of the funding is to help researchers develop their research abilities to a level where they are capable of leading a research team and seeking high level funding from national and international bodies.
This move follows the publication of a report from the OECD that recognised Ireland's recent large increases in funding for university research, but was critical of the lack of commercialisation of third-level R&D projects.
Hynes told ElectricNews.Net that he agreed with the thrust of what the OECD said, but added that the Basic Research Grant Schemes was more concerned with helping researchers get to the stage where their ideas were capable of being commercialised.
Among the projects being funded by the scheme is a research initiative at the National University of Ireland, Maynooth that is studying the compression of digital holograms. Such holograms are capable of imaging and processing three-dimensional objects, but an uncompressed digital hologram requires 16 times more storage space than a similar sized (uncompressed) two-dimensional image.
Another of the funded projects is looking at the traumatic brain injuries caused by "blunt head" impacts and how they can be reduced through better treatment and protection. Dr Michael D Gilchrist at UCD will examine this by combining computational mechanics stimulations, which predict strains within neural tissue, with microdialysis experiments and advanced diagnostic imaging techniques.
The EUR12 million in funding will be available to research projects taking place over the next three years.
After several years, this will be the last year that Enterprise Ireland is involved in the Basic Research Grants Scheme. Its responsibility for the initiative will be transferred to Science Foundation Ireland (SFI) sometime later this year. This is due to the recent shake-up at Enterprise Ireland, which will see it focus more on the commercial aspect of R&D, and also because SFI was thought to be a more suitable home for the scheme because of its academic emphasis.
The Embark Initiative, which is operated under the auspices of the Department of Education & Science and funded under the National Development Plan, has been given resources of EUR95 million for 2000 to 2006.
It also operates a EUR10 million postgraduate research scholarship scheme for masters and doctoral level researchers, and a EUR3.2 million post-doctoral fellowship scheme.
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