Good research isn't about size, it's about people, resources and using both to the best advantage. The new director-general of Science Foundation Ireland hopes to use this simple formula to push Irish science onto the world stage.
"It doesn't matter how large you are: it is how good you are," says Dr William Harris, who took up his post on August 20th. World-class research in the United States is concentrated in as few as 40 university centres. "You have enough universities here to be competitive," he says, "but you have to use your money well."
Harris's appointment was a long time coming, given that the Government announced the setting up of the foundation as long ago as March last year. His arrival here on September 10th should help breath life into the organisation and give it a focus for the future.
Science Foundation Ireland is the new state-funded body that will invest £500 million in biotechnology and information-technology research over the next five years. The Government hopes the funding will allow the Republic to make a world impact in these technologies, in the process creating jobs and intellectual wealth for the State.
Harris will direct the way the foundation conducts its business, with the help of a board, two key research heads in charge of the research themes and two advisory panels, which will keep each strand's research edge as keen as possible.
He has a great deal of work ahead to get Science Foundation Ireland fully into service. Forfβs has been overseeing the foundation since last year, in a caretaker role, and got the two advisory bodies put together so an initial £55 million in research funding could be brought into play this year. It will now be up to Harris to drive the foundation forward.
His first key appointments will be those of the heads of the information-technology and biotech programmes. Applications for the two positions close tomorrow, and Harris will use the existing advisory panels to produce two shortlists of suitable candidates.
The final selection will be his, but he is making his preferences clear. "I am going to want them from the universities; I will want them to be respected by scientists," he says.
By late September, Harris hopes to announce the foundation's new board of 15 people. About 10 have been identified so far, he says, chosen using a selection model employed by the National Science Foundation in the US.
He is setting up a small office for Science Foundation Ireland, but is using facilities provided by Forfβs in the meantime. He also awaits the formal birth of the foundation in legislation. The organisation will be established in statute, and Harris has seen the draft act, but it will have to join the Dβil queue before this part of the jigsaw puzzle is complete.
Harris was headhunted from the University of South Carolina, where he was vice-president for research. He has a very useful background in the management of research activity. This can be a demanding area, given that it attempts to direct and encourage creativity.
Before his time at the University of South Carolina, Harris was executive director of Columbia University's Biosphere 2 Center in Arizona and director for mathematical and physical sciences at the National Science Foundation.
It is a strong administrative background that should serve the Republic well, but Harris is also a scientist, a chemist.
So what kind of administration does he anticipate running?
Harris expects it to be open and based on dialogue. "My style is to involve people in conversation, because when you listen to people, you learn." He also stresses that decisions won't be taken "in isolation or behind closed doors".
He expects to be free to develop the foundation and doesn't believe he will have to weather interference from the Government or its science-related bodies. "I don't have any real concerns about that," he says, adding that he will expect help in this regard from his board.
He acknowledges there have been "tensions between Forfβs and the universities", often based on mistrust over the old chestnut of basic versus applied research. "I hope I can be a help there," he says.
Most third-level researchers will be watching to see how Harris jumps on the issue, but it seems they should have no fears. "My core is basic science and curiosity," he says.
He also expects investment to have some level of return, however.Bodies directing research "have an obligation and responsibility for those who provided the resource," he says.
"You have to show a return by making a contribution to society and by enhancing the economic development of the country."
For this reason, he admits to being "a real entrepreneur at heart". He wants the Republic to be at the frontiers of these developing technologies, in order to reap the benefits. "My goal is to make this a success for Ireland."
It will take time to make things happen, despite the fact that the Republic has "a talent pool that is deep and wide". He recognises that there are shortcomings. "I think that the area the country is weak in is basic research. There is great talent there, but it hasn't been supported." He expects to right this situation, and wants to make the foundation an engine for research.
"What I hope to do is put in place a research culture within the SFI itself. A research culture in a science foundation is different than the culture of other agencies." He wants the foundation to be a place for "discussion, debate and risk-taking".