THE IRISH and British governments have announced a joint €74 million investment to create new collaborative research centres to focus on climate, sustainability and resilient food systems.
The new centres will be based in Ireland, Great Britain and Northern Ireland, and will open in November, and will be managed by Science Foundation Ireland (SFI), Stormont's Department of Agriculture, Environment and Rural Affairs (DAERA) and UK Research and Innovation (UKRI).
The initiative was announced today by Minister for Further and Higher Education, Research, Innovation and Science Simon Harris; UK Minister for Science and Investment Security, Nusrat Ghani; and Stormont's Minister for Agriculture, Environment and Rural Affairs Edwin Poots.
The new programme will provide for a total investment of €74m funded through DAERA (up to £17m), SFI (up to €40m) and UKRI (up to £12m).
Announcing the collaboration Minister Harris said:
"I am delighted to announce the launch of the new Co-Centres Programme.
"We have seen in recent years how important it is to invest in collaborative research and we are place to be able to support this ambitious new programme through the government's Shared Island initiative.
"By working together, we can foster new research collaborations that are crucial to addressing both climate, and sustainable and resilient food systems, these are critical issues that impact on all of us."
Professor Philip Nolan, Director General, Science Foundation Ireland (SFI) said:
"We look forward to launching the programme call in the coming weeks, and to funding outstanding large scale collaborative research which will have real value and importance to our future."
