New Awards System in Ireland to Draw Top Researchers

Backed by a Technology Foresight Fund of more than $550 million annually, the Science Foundation Ireland has given the go-ahead to a new awards system designed to attract top researchers and support industry-university partnerships.



The new system includes SFI awards for world-class researchers who move to Ireland, for Irish and international researchers already based in Ireland, for the support of scientific conferences for scientists based in Ireland and for a requirement for collaboration among certain SFI-funded researchers and industry:

• Grants of up to $4.35 million per year to help link collaborative, internationally competitive research clusters with industry.
• Fellow awards of up to $870,000 per year for up to five years to support highly competitive research programs conducted by Irish and international scientists within Ireland.
• Investigator program grants ranging from $43,500 to $217,500 to attract or retain researchers in Ireland.
• Grants of up to $174,000 to further attract researchers to Ireland for up to one academic year under the E.T.S. Walton Visitor Awards, a program honoring the Irish-born 1951 Nobel Prize winner in physics, Dr. Ernest Walton. And,
• Workshop and conference grants sponsored by or involving Irish scientists and research bodies and aimed toward an international scientific audience.

SFI also will work formally with Columbia University's International Innovation Initiative, a world leader in tech transfer, to ensure that laboratory work is carried into industry. For more information on SFI, visit: http://www.sfi.ie