Rose Conway-Walsh (Mayo, Sinn Fein)
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383. To ask the Minister for Education and Skills if he will provide a breakdown of the number of PhD researchers funded by Science Foundation Ireland; the Irish Research Council; the HSE and any other funding body; the number of persons in receipt of stipends directly from higher education institutions; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [33332/22]

Simon Harris (Wicklow, Fine Gael)
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I can only respond to the Deputy’s question in terms of the student numbers supported by my Department through Science Foundation Ireland and the Irish Research Council, and on student numbers as reported by the Higher Education Institutions (HEIs) in the latest Higher Education Research and Development Survey (HERD) survey. There are many other research funders in the national system, including Teagasc and the Health Research Board. There are also typically a number of PhDs funded through European Programmes.

Impact 2030: Ireland’s Research and Innovation Strategy prioritises the nurturing and development of talent and excellence to build on Ireland’s reputation as an Island of Talent and a location for research excellence and impact. We recognise that the quality of our researchers is fundamental to the quality of our research system and its collaboration with partners in industry and policymakers, both in Ireland and abroad. 

Our priority under Impact 2030 is to ensure a consistent research student experience, regardless of funding source. This reflects the National Framework for Doctoral Education which is being advanced by the associated National Advisory Forum which is co-chaired by two agencies under the remit of my Department: the Higher Education Authority and Quality and Qualifications Ireland. 

A stipend is a well-established feature of funded postgraduate awards globally, providing an income to the awardee in recognition of the need to devote themselves on a full-time basis to their research.

According to the latest data from the HERD Survey, Irish HEIs had 2,120 internally-funded PhD and Research Master students in 2018. In the HERD Survey, 'Internally-funded' includes students who receive stipends, who are wholly funded by their institution's internal scheme (Recurrent Grant), who get only fees paid by the HEI, and staff who are doing PhDs/Master's in their own HEI.

The HERD Survey is undertaken every two years to monitor the level of research and development activities in the higher education sector.  Its latest iteration was published in January 2021 and can be accessed on:

www.gov.ie/en/publication/00d67-higher-education-research-and-development-survey-2018-2019/.

The next HERD survey is currently in the field and will be published in December 2022.

There were 2,022 PhD Students directly attributed to active SFI awards in 2021, as reported by SFI funded researchers through the SFI Research Outputs Survey 2021.  These are PhD student positions that have been funded through an SFI award.

The Irish Research Council is currently supporting 920 PhD researchers across its range of funding programmes.