Jen Cummins (Dublin South Central, Social Democrats)
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1167. To ask the Minister for Education and Skills when unsuccessful applicants to the 2025 Research Ireland COALESCE grant will receive the reviewer feedback from the international panel; if he is aware of the significant delays facing applicants during this process; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [62851/25]

James Lawless (Kildare North, Fianna Fail)
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The COALESCE Scheme (Collaborative Alliances for Societal Challenges) funds excellent research addressing national, European, and global challenges by bringing together researchers, policy makers, enterprise, and civil society. The scheme incorporates thematic strands funded by strategic partners including Government Departments and agencies, reflecting specific policy priorities. The scheme also includes strands funded solely by Research Ireland specifically targeting interdisciplinary research addressing national or global societal challenges.

The COALESCE 2025 funding call opened in October 2024 and closed on 12 December 2024. The call received a 48% increase in applications from the previous year’s call, with 114 applicants received from across 14 Research Bodies.

16 proposals were awarded funding following the completion of the assessment process, including 14 Research Ireland funded awards and two awards funded by the strategic funding partner Cuan, the Domestic, Sexual and Gender-Based Violence agency.

All applicants were notified of the outcome of the call in mid-July 2025. The successful applicant awards commenced in October. While a September timeline for applicant feedback was indicatively planned, the doubling of application numbers has resulted in a delay in processing the feedback for all 114 applicants. Research Offices are being notified that the feedback for COALESCE will issue to all applicants by the end of 2025.

Research Ireland endeavours to ensure that communication is issued to applicants and research offices in as timely a fashion as possible. This timeline for feedback on the COALESCE Programme is in line with the previous year's funding call, when feedback was issued at the end of November 2024.