Mr. Peter Brown:

On behalf of the Irish Research Council, I am grateful for the invitation to participate in this round-table discussion on the future funding of higher education. The IRC is an associated agency of the Department under the aegis of the Higher Education Authority, HEA. The IRC’s mission is to support excellence in research talent, knowledge and engagement. We collaborate with a range of stakeholders and partners within and outside the research system to deliver on this mission.

The research and innovation system functions as a critical national strategic resource in the face of the uncertainty that underpins national or global challenges. The emergence of Covid-19 is an example of a global crisis that caught this planet unaware, and research expertise in different disciplines has been critical to navigating through the crisis. Knowledge and expertise will be even more critical in future as we seek to solve the climate crisis and make a successful transition to a green, sustainable and, indeed, peaceful future.

The impact of investment in research and innovation is multifaceted. These impacts include, first, the development of new knowledge and expertise across disciplines that equips us with the ability to make informed decisions around known and not-yet-known challenges. Second, the right partnership structures enables the diffusion of that knowledge across government, enterprise and civil society. Third, it provides a pipeline of highly skilled and qualified research graduates to meet the needs of enterprise, the public sector, higher education and civil society. Finally, through research-informed teaching and learning, the development of an emerging and future graduate workforce who are equipped to collectively overcome national or global societal challenges is facilitated.

Research and evidence clearly show the link between investment in basic research and productivity growth. Growth in productivity is not solely a function of technological innovation, it is also influenced by skills, the health of the workforce, the quality of infrastructure, childcare, education, social cohesion, and broad quality of life. Research and innovation across disciplines contributes to progress in these areas, including through evidence-based policy and decision-making. As has been observed elsewhere, sustainable growth and innovation in the context of a service-dominated economy requires a mix of disciplines and not just science, technology, engineering and mathematics, STEM.

A vibrant ecosystem of research for knowledge requires long-term, predictable funding schemes addressing all disciplines and all career stages. Fundamental research is by its nature not geared towards immediate technological deployment or application. It is, however, frontier basic research that lays the foundations for the innovations of the future. As members of the committee will no be doubt aware, Ireland’s share of public investment in research does not compare well with her peers in Europe. The addressing of this for the system as a whole, while building research capacity and staff within the emerging technological university system, should be among the ambitions for the next national research strategy.

In the context of the future funding of research and innovation, balance between STEM and arts, humanities and social sciences, AHSS, is critical to maximizing the potential of the research and innovation system. There is recognition both across the EU and in Ireland that interdisciplinary research will be key to successfully overcoming current and future challenges. Ireland has the potential to be a global exemplar for interdisciplinary and transdisciplinary research.

International connectivity and collaboration are at the core of any functioning research and innovation system, existing as it does across myriad networks of peers and expertise across the globe. The global public health crisis has demonstrated how investment in research and innovation by national jurisdictions and the EU have collectively been mobilised for truly global impact.

Investing in an adequate pipeline of research awards across disciplines and career stages, both individual- and cohort-based, is critical to making Ireland a destination of choice in research and innovation. Current success rates on key schemes in the ecosystem have been frequently too low for some time, however, meaning that we are losing truly excellent candidates from the research system or, more likely, to other countries. Investment in research and innovation, RI, should facilitate minimum 25% - 30% success rates for all our key funding schemes.

I close this statement on the matter of our postgraduate researchers who are the future of the system. A national, minimum postgraduate stipend, linked to the cost of living and that is internationally competitive, should be introduced for all funded postgraduate researchers, and should be systematically reviewed.

I thank the committee for the opportunity to address it and I look forward to the wider discussion.