US - Ireland R&D Partnership

The Governments of the United States of America, Northern Ireland and the Republic of Ireland have come together for a unique initiative to advance scientific progress in fields that will have a significant impact on the health, well-being and economic prosperity of all their citizens.

The “US-Ireland R&D Partnership” will help link scientists and engineers in partnerships across academia to address crucial research questions; will foster new and existing industrial research activity that could make an important contribution to the respective economies; and will expand educational and research career opportunities in science & engineering.

The Government Departments and Agencies across the three jurisdictions supporting this initiative are:-

Northern Ireland – Department for Employment and Learning, Invest NI and the Health and Social Care (HSC) R&D Office
Republic of Ireland – Science Foundation Ireland (SFI)
United States of America – National Science Foundation (NSF) and National Institutes of Health (NIH)

The following thematic areas have been prioritised as important research challenges for the health and prosperity of the citizens of the United States, Ireland and Northern Ireland:

Nanotechnology
Sensors
Diabetes
Cystic Fibrosis
Telecommunications
Energy and Sustainability

Note that the NI element of Diabetes and Cystic Fibrosis research themes will be funded by the Health and Social Care (HSC) R&D Office.

This US-Ireland R&D Partnership has its origins in the US-Ireland Business Summit that took place in Washington, DC in 2002.

The Partnership is guided by a joint Steering Group composed of senior representatives from government and academia across the three jurisdictions

Under the US-Ireland R&D process, the Partnership will facilitate university researchers to submit joint research proposals in the identified priority areas. As part of this funding process the governments (and/or relevant government research agencies within the Partnership) will contribute to the costs of researchers based in their jurisdictions. All proposals submitted under the auspices of the Partnership must have significant research involvement from researchers in all three jurisdictions.