Almost 2,000 academics and researchers have signed a letter saying the State’s main research funding body is too focused on areas industry wants developed to the neglect of the arts, humanities and social sciences.
The open letter, addressed to the Minister for Further and Higher Education James Lawless, expresses “deep concern” about the recently published priorities of Taighde Éireann/Research Ireland.
The agency has €2.45 billion* in public funds to distribute over the next five years - part of the €4.55 billion allocated by Government for research and innovation grants and facilities, but the signatories say its approach is too “industry-centred, commercially-focused, profit-seeking”.
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“This new strategy is an assault on Ireland’s research ecosystem,” it says.
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“The imbalance in funding weakens academic freedom and its strong private-sector bias is a threat to democratic processes.”
The online letter had 1,947 signatures early on Monday evening, of which 1,810 had been verified by those organising the response.
The Department of Further and Higher Education said in a statement that the letter had been brought to the Minister’s attention and he had noted the concerns expressed in it.
However, the statement said Research Ireland’s mandate was “explicitly inclusive of discovery research, basic research, and research in the arts, humanities and social sciences, alongside translational and enterprise-facing work”.
“Research Ireland’s Strategy, which the Minister brought to Government prior to its publication, reflects this balanced mandate. The Minister understands that Research Ireland is preparing a detailed response to the issues raised in the letter, and he welcomes that engagement.
“He is confident that Research Ireland is committed to listening carefully to the concerns of researchers across all disciplines and to responding to them in a way that gives appropriate assurance.”
The agency’s strategy commits to setting up an advisory council “to ensure ongoing input from the full breadth of the research community”.
However, the letter says the views of the research community were made known in a 2023 letter with more than 2,500 signatories that called for balance between Stem subjects – science, technology, engineering and maths – and the arts, humanities and social science.
Despite this, the latest funding strategy is “structurally, rhetorically and materially focused on commercially translatable research and economic impact rather than supporting bedrock, fundamental, discovery research and research for the public good.
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“The disproportionate focus on industry interests instead of discovery research and the public interest marginalises the Arts, Humanities and Social Sciences and the fundamental sciences, and minimises research for social good and research that is truly innovative and ground-breaking.”
The first signatories to the letter are professors and assistant professors from Maynooth University, Trinity College, University College Dublin, University of Galway, Dublin City University and University of Limerick.
They represent a range of disciplines including computer science, English, mathematical sciences, Irish studies, artificial intelligence, climate science, art history and digital communications.
*This article was amended on June 2nd, 2026 to differentiate between spending on research grants and overall research and innovation funding
