Dr. Aisling Soden:

Absolutely, we see more of that. It is really positive. It is welcome to see. The SFI research centres have kicked that off with the greater industry engagement that they have, as well as with the SFI industry fellowship and such programmes that are actively trying to link researchers into industry and give them that experience.

At undergraduate level, we see more universities looking at longer placements in, for example, the third and fourth years of a degree. Companies really welcome that. They love having access to those students. Bringing them in, training them up and giving them that experience, potentially, they are looking at a career with them. In a way, the company has that opportunity to pitch itself to the graduate, especially in a very competitive space, to attract him or her to work there. Increasingly, we are seeing that model develop and expand and companies realising that if they want to access talent, they need to also engage with the institutions and access talent early on, in the third year or fourth year part of that degree, before students have made the decision on where to go.