|
The Embark Initiative has been established by IRCSET (the Irish Research Council for Science, Engineering & Technology) to support the "most promising individual research talent" in Ireland and free them up from commercial and financial pressures. It is also hoped that the scheme will make Ireland an internationally attractive location for high-level research. The money will come from the Irish government under the National Development Plan
In its first phase, it has set-up a EUR2.9 million postgraduate research scheme for researchers planning to complete a Masters or Doctorate level research in the relevant fields. Researchers will be eligible for a maximum of EUR19,050 under the scheme and funding it will be available for three years, but can be extended for lengthier projects. Embark hopes to offer between 150 and 180 scholarships in the first year of the scheme.
Further programmes will be announced over the next year and the programme claims to have reserves of over EUR95 million to implement them.
According to IRCSET, Embark will take a unique approach to funding with the emphasis beginning on allowing researchers to "explore ideas and bring new concepts to reality" rather than focusing funding on projects with an industrial or economic focus. "Our argument is that it is scientific ideas that fuel more mission oriented research and we can't afford to neglect research into such ideas," said Dr. Tom Mitchell, the chair of IRCSET.
According to Dr. Mitchell, this initiative is badly needed as it is a major step towards the creation of a knowledge-based economy in Ireland and can stop the so-called "brain-drain" of leading research talent.
"We have been very good at creating top-quality researchers, but we have tended to lose them to the US and Europe because the funding available here is miniscule," Dr. Mitchell told ElectricNews.Net. "By making research a viable and beneficial career option we would hope to be able to hold on to these researchers, which is crucial to Ireland's future success."
Dr. Mitchell also said that the lack of directly allocated resources had impacted negatively against the mobility of researchers into Ireland and the promotion of organic growth within the research community in Ireland.
"Ireland's academic capability to initiate and conduct research is among the very best in the world, but we must strenuously develop the new talent emerging from third level education and redouble our efforts to create even more," remarked Dr. Mitchell, who is the former provost of Trinity College Dublin.
The Embark Initiative is operating under the auspices of the Department of Education & Science as part of the National Development Plan. For further information, visit http://www.ircset.ie.
|
