A joint funding investment of over €7 million was announced this month through the US-Ireland R&D Partnership Programme. This tripartite research and development (R&D) partnership between the United States of America (USA), Republic of Ireland (RoI) and Northern Ireland (NI) increases collaborations among researchers and industry across the three jurisdictions.
Four awards have been funded under the programme, spanning 10 higher education institutions and supporting approximately 20 research positions. The projects funded include research on communications networks and healthcare.
"Strong international research partnerships are vital to address the global challenges of our time," said Celine FitzGerald, Interim CEO of Research Ireland. "Through this significant tri-partite investment, the US-Ireland R&D Partnership continues to support and encourage world-class, impactful and collaborative research projects between our countries."
Since its launch in 2006, the US-Ireland R&D Partnership has funded 98 partnership projects with a combined government investment of €158 million. This unique funding initiative aims to increase the level of collaborative R&D, generating valuable discoveries and innovations.
The funding agencies involved are Research Ireland and the Health Research Board (HRB) in RoI, the Department for the Economy (DFE) and the Health & Social Care R&D Division (HSC R&D) in NI, and the National Science Foundation (NSF) and the National Institutes of Health (NIH) in USA.
The 10 collaborating institutions are: South East Technological University (SETU), Teagasc, University College Dublin (UCD) and University College Cork (UCC) in the Republic of Ireland; Queen’s University Belfast (QUB) and Ulster University (UU) in Northern Ireland; and Virginia Tech, University of California Los Angeles (UCLA), University of Pennsylvania and Rochester Institute of Technology in the United States.
"The US-Ireland R&D Partnership Program provides a unique opportunity to advance world-class technological innovations," said NSF Director, Sethuraman Panchanathan. "Working together, we are furthering a global ecosystem of innovation — one that not only responds to today’s challenges but anticipates the needs of tomorrow."
