Professor Philip Nolan:

I thank the Cathaoirleach and committee members. It is a pleasure to be here. As members are probably aware, SFI is the largest competitive funder of research in Ireland and has been such through its 20-year history. We fund basic and applied research that makes a real difference to society and the economy. A primary and vital output of our research funding is talented people, such as talented doctoral graduates and highly skilled scientists and engineers. Understanding the skills needs of our economy and society and responding accordingly in a balanced manner at all levels of training is essential. The need to grow and nurture our skills base so that we may respond to economic and societal challenges is a priority area for SFI and I look forward to discussing our efforts in respect of training, particularly at doctoral level.

We warmly welcome the opportunity to share with the committee information on our experiences of a critical piece of work the agency carried out on behalf of the Government, namely, Creating Our Future. It is an award-winning public engagement campaign led by the Minister for Further and Higher Education, Research, Innovation and Science, Deputy Harris, and operationalised by SFI in partnership with the Department of Further and Higher Education, Research, Innovation and Science. It was introduced for us to understand where the public believed research could or should play a part in addressing the challenges the people of Ireland experience in their lives. That is something of which the political system would be aware but of which scientists may not be as aware. It created an open conversation with the public on the role research plays in addressing those challenges and we learned a great deal from it. The question we put to the people of Ireland was, "Tell me what researchers in Ireland should explore to create a better future." What set the initiative apart from other campaigns was our commitment to ensuring we reached all corners of society. We gathered a large network of partners to help us to reach that goal. Whenever possible, we removed barriers to participation by always considering the needs of the population at large. We were delighted to receive more than 18,000 submissions from the public. We expected to receive approximately 10,000 submissions, based on international norms. There was a massive public response to the campaign. The submissions were analysed and synthesised into 16 thematic areas. We were overwhelmed by the response from the public. Those 16 thematic areas and the guidance and interest we got from the public are shaping the detail of our strategy for research funding.

I turn now to talent, creativity and the future of the National Training Fund. One of Ireland’s most competitive differentiators on the world stage is our talent and creativity, broadly writ. In 2022, there were 8,766 people working on teams under the guidance of SFI award holders. That is almost 9,000 researchers funded by SFI in 2022. Just under 60% of them are postdoctoral researchers and PhD students. In essence, these are people training and developing their skills. Those skills will largely be applied outside academia, that is, in industry and the public service. These talented individuals are being trained alongside senior researchers, technicians and research management professionals. They are the lifeblood of our research and higher education system and the talent pipeline for enterprise and the public service.

Education, research and innovation are interdependent processes in our ecosystem. Research does not stand alone; it is deeply connected with education. The researchers who are working at the frontiers of research and fuelling innovation are inspiring, teaching and training the next generation of creative citizens, knowledge workers and economic and social innovators. A stable and secure career track and progression for these individuals is essential, from their earliest career stage right through to leadership roles across society, in all disciplines. A well-trained cohort of researchers and educators with an innovation mindset greatly supports the research system to respond to the challenges and opportunities as voiced by the public in Creating Our Future.

The demands for those with STEM skills, which is Science Foundation Ireland's current core competence, is accelerating and is projected to continue on an upward trajectory with demand expected to grow by around 8% between now and 2025. That is compared to expected average growth across all occupations of 3%. Employment in STEM-related sectors is also expected to rise by 6.5% between now and 2025. Everyone should have an opportunity to benefit from these career opportunities. We need an inclusive approach. Our agency has been at the forefront in developing initiatives to remove and mitigate any existing or perceived factors that may limit the participation of women in particular in STEM careers at fourth level. Our new equality, diversity and inclusion, EDI, strategy broadens that out to other grounds on which people might be excluded from such careers.

Much work remains to be done in this space. Since 2011, 70% of applicants and awardees were men. We recognise that it is important to continue progress. Things have improved. The percentage of women funded in our early career frontiers for the future programme rose from 20% to 45% over that period. We acknowledge and know that we need to do more. Our forthcoming strategy will address that.

Aligning higher education with skills needs for a successful economy makes sense. Technical capabilities within specific domains are required. Let me be clear. The technical capabilities are fundamental. We must continue to scale our training and education of apprentices, bachelor's, master's and doctoral graduates and have an appropriate balance across those different types of training. We must provide for people to move and progress between those different types of training. At postgraduate level, people need to be educated and trained at the very frontiers of current knowledge by researchers who are internationally connected. The technical skills that one forms during a postgraduate degree or doctoral programme are essential but so too are the skills that enable individuals to navigate the business environment. Competencies such as stakeholder engagement, creative problem-solving, leadership, change management and collaboration are all vital aspects of a talented and agile workforce. We have been working very hard with partners in enterprise and the public service to develop our skills base with these competencies being nurtured alongside and complementing the technical knowledge.

A major example is that in 2018, SFI launched the SFI centres for research training, CRT, programme. The purpose of the SFI centres for research training is to build on pre-existing research excellence but to provide cohorts - rather than individuals - of academically outstanding future research leaders with the skills and knowledge required to address the future challenges of an ever changing work environment. We are currently funding six CRTs that will train a total of 700 PhD students. These ones are focused on data and ICT skills for the future. That was a major enterprise need at the time of launch and continues to be so. The CRTs are working closely with industry partners who are informing the shape of the programmes with an awareness of industry needs and the ever-changing work environment. One in five students on these programmes is funded by an industry partner with very close connections to that partner and a collaborative research programme. All students must complete a work or international placement. The cohort-based model is uniquely purposed to equip students with transversal, cross-sectoral and discipline-specific skills, developing individuals with skills and talent that can attract and retain enterprise investment, and support modern, sustainable public services. This model of PhD funding has been cited as world class. Countries around the world are looking at this model and seeing how they might adapt it to their own environment or change their own model on the basis of what we have learned here. They create networks of principal investigators, researchers and postdoctoral researchers who are working together to train PhD students with deep technical skills while also providing opportunities to nurture the aforementioned competencies.

Looking to the future, we do not currently have a confirmed budget to launch a new phase of this programme, which will end in about two years' time. It is our ambition to secure budget so that we may build on the success of the investments by running future calls in broader areas. This is quite focused on one important area but there are many other areas in the economy and society that require this level of skills. It is our view that the allocation of a small component from the National Training Fund would be a justifiable and effective investment in advanced skills for the digital and green transitions.

I am delighted to be joined today by my colleagues, Dr. Freeman and Professor Gleeson. Professor Gleeson is well placed to share his experiences of this model of training, particularly the experience of the impact it is having on industry partners.

The CRT programme is just one way that SFI is contributing to building our skills base. The SFI industry research, development and innovation fellowship programme supports academia-industry interactions to address industry-informed challenges simply by facilitating the mobility of people between the academic and industry environments.

The network of 16 SFI research centres are also a major mechanism by means of which we train PhD students, although there are PhD students across almost all of our grant programmes. Later this year, SFI will launch a new SFI research centres programme. Given what we have learned about the centres for research training, those new centres will have a centre for research training embedded at their core with this renewed focus on a cohort-based approach to PhD training. This recognises that in addition to the research work we do and the collaborations and partnerships that that talent pipeline is vital to the industry partners.

In July of last year, a new partnership between industry and the Government to recruit and retain research talent was announced. Innovate for Ireland is a novel training programme that aims to establish Ireland as a destination of choice for doctoral research with a focus on sustainability and innovation, with funding coming from the public and private sector. It is one of the initiatives on which Dr. Freeman is concentrating. The initial phase of the innovate for Ireland initiative will seek to attract up to 400 high-calibre PhD students to undertake research in Ireland that tackles national and global grand challenges such as climate change and climate adaptation, global health and pandemics, water poverty, digital society and cybersecurity. SFI is working with the Government make this vision a reality, building on our proven expertise in funding cohort-based PhD programmes.

It is worth stating that SFI research programmes overall provide a vital talent pipeline for industry. SFI data shows that about 250 PhD and 340 postdoctoral students graduated from SFI teams in 2022. Approximately 30% of both immediately moved into industry. When we follow our graduates over their full careers, about 60% of our doctoral graduates move to work fairly quickly in industry or the public sector soon after graduation and a further 30% after a longer period of postdoctoral training, bringing their highly sought-after knowledge and skills.

I thank the committee for inviting SFI to participate in this conversation. The message I would like to leave the committee with today is that equipped with an understanding of our skills needs, there is a need for training and skills at all levels: from apprenticeships to micro credentials right through bachelors and masters to doctoral training. In the context of numbers, the doctoral training is a small but very important component of the overall need. It is the recommendation of SFI that consideration is given to exploring mechanisms to invest a small percentage of the National Training Fund fund to enable the continuation and growth of the SFI CRT programme to deliver the appropriate percentage of individuals, with deep research and technical skills, trained to doctoral level.