Northern Ireland

Multi-million pound funding package will help deepen links between higher education institutions

The funding package will deepen links between higher education institutions on both sides of the border
The funding package will deepen links between higher education institutions on both sides of the border The funding package will deepen links between higher education institutions on both sides of the border

A MULTI-million Euro funding package to deepen links between higher education institutions on both sides of the border is due to be announced today.

Taoiseach Micheal Martin and Minister for Further and Higher Education Simon Harris will share details of the €40 million for a North-South Research programme.

The significant investment, provided through the Shared Island Fund, will support links between institutions, researchers and research communities across Ireland.

The programme will bring individual researchers, research teams and third level institutions north and south together, collaborating across a range of areas.

This work will build on the cooperation which already exists and will broaden and deepen relationships between the partner institutions.

The first call for applications will be launched later this year.

Funding will support individual researchers based in an Irish higher education institution (HEI) to collaborate with a researcher in a HEI in Northern Ireland on an identified project, or research teams to collaborate on an agreed work programme.

In the Year 1 call, Strand I projects may receive a maximum of €100,000 per annum for up to two years, while Strands II and III projects may receive up to €1 million per annum for up to four years. A maximum of 50 per cent of any award may be allocated to Northern Ireland partners.

At the end of Year 2, a review will be undertaken of the projects funded thus far in order to inform the format of the second call.