Trinity has been granted €6 million from Horizon 2020 for the establishment of an information and communication technology (ICT) postdoctoral programme, in an award Trinity today described as its “single biggest” from the EU programme.
With a budget of €80 billion over seven years, Horizon 2020 is the EU’s largest-ever research and innovation programme.
Expected to employ 71 ICT researchers, the programme, named EDGE, will support research in advanced materials, telecommunications networks and digital content technology. Recruitment of what are expected to be “leading ICT researchers” will begin in September 2016 and will involve ten third-level institutions in Ireland, while being co-ordinated from Trinity. EDGE will run for five years.
This new postdoctoral programme will be run by Prof Linda Doyle. Doyle is currently the Director of the CONNECT Centre for Future Networks and Communications, which has its headquarters in Trinity.
The money is to be received by three Science Foundation Ireland centres, ADAPT, AMBER and CONNECT, all of whom are joining forces to organise the new programme. These three centres have already pledged €7 million in funding to EDGE.
Prof Doyle claimed in a press release that “this programme will attract more leading ICT researchers to Ireland’s third level institutes”.
Focusing on the significance of the announcement for Trinity, the Provost, Patrick Prendergast, said in the press release: “Securing funding from Horizon 2020 is a primary focus of Trinity’s research strategy and the EDGE project is the largest award for Trinity to date.”
Prof Mark Ferguson, the Director General of Science Foundation Ireland, said: “Today’s announcement is a major success story for Ireland, and is testament to the quality of research conducted at these Science Foundation Ireland centres.”
