Trinity-based research centres ADAPT and CONNECT are part of a new €193 million investment across five Science Foundation Ireland (SFI) research centres, Minister for Higher Education Simon Harris announced last week.
Other centres receiving this funding include CÚRAM, the SFI Research Centre for Medical Devices led by NUI Galway, iCRAG, the SFI Research Centre in Applied Geosciences led by University College Dublin, and Lero, the SFI Research Centre for Software, led by University of Limerick.
The investment will support over 1,000 graduate students, Post-Doctoral students and Research Fellows. According to SFI, over €91 million of the funding comes from industry partners in addition to SFI themselves.
“We are delighted that the Trinity-led ADAPT and CONNECT Centres are among those to have secured significant second-phase funding to build on their many initial successes”, Provost Dr Patrick Prendergast said in a press release.
“[Trinity’s researchers] have also developed the foundations for future excellence by training many talented PhD and Post-Doctoral students to be future difference-makers. Collectively they have helped to make Trinity – and Ireland – a world-leader in research and innovation”, added Prendergast in the press release.
ADAPT has been awarded €42 million of the funding for research over the next six years. The centre’s research goal is “to pioneer new forms of AI-driven Digital Content Technology to empower individuals and communities in their work and everyday lives” according to the ADAPT website.
Since launching in January 2015, ADAPT’s researchers have produced over 1,500 journal and conference publications, trained nearly 100 PhD students and formed six spinout companies.
In September 2020, The University Times reported that CONNECT was awarded €2 million from SFI to develop a new telecommunications research infrastructure. In this second round of funding announced on Monday, CONNECT was awarded €39 million over the next six years.
CONNECT’s mission is “to research and develop innovative solutions for the communications challenges facing society today”, according to SFI.
Existing networks are easily overwhelmed by intense demand and struggle to provide quality coverage in hard-to-reach areas according to CONNECT. The centre’s research aims to improve networks and user experiences.
CONNECT was also launched in 2015, and since then CONNECT researchers have written over 1,500 journal and conference publications and trained over 140 PhD and MSc, won millions in funding from the EU’s Horizon Europe scheme and formed five spinout companies.
“I am delighted to announce this significant Government investment in five SFI Research Centres, which reflects Ireland’s position as a world leader in research and innovation”, Harris said in an SFI news release.
“This support will further enhance the important work these centres have already achieved, so they continue to play a pivotal role in the years ahead in protecting the wellbeing of the population and the economy”, he added.
