Research cash brings new smile

It's arguably the best news the humanities and social sciences research sector has ever received, yet it's largely been overlooked. Twelve days ago, the Taoiseach described the launch of a three-year, £180 million research and development initiative as "another extremely significant milestone in the Government's commitment to Ireland's future technological success". Well, it certainly is. However, the fact is that the new programme, which includes £30 million for current funding and £150 million capital funding over three years, is also available to the humanities and the social sciences. For these disciplines, which have laboured for too long as the Cinderellas of third-level research, this initiative is a major milestone. "You cannot have a cutting-edge economy without cutting-edge research," the Minister for Education and Science, Micheal Martin, said at the launch.

"It is important to point out that the humanities and social sciences absolutely fit with this approach," he continued. "An intellectual culture which encourages and supports critical enquiry across a wide diversity of fields has benefits which reach well beyond narrow academic confines. "The great themes of liberal education and its contribution to society are as important today as they have ever been." UCD's Dr Maurice Bric, academic secretary of the Interim Council for the Humanities and Social Sciences, confirms the benefits. "The effect of the initiative will be to bring a greater degree of balance in the recognition and funding of research at third level. For far too long the humanities and social sciences have been the poor relations in this area and the Minister has begun the process of reversing that."

Of the current funding, some £2.5 million is to be reserved annually for postgraduate scholarships and post-doctoral fellowships in the humanities, social sciences, sciences and technology. Of this, £500,000 is earmarked for new basic research projects approved by the National Research Support Fund Board in 1999.

Department of Education sources, meanwhile, have indicated that the amount allocated to postgraduate research in the humanities could exceed £1 million annually. This will enable many young people, who would otherwise be forced to go abroad to complete their studies, to remain in Ireland.

The £150 million capital fund will be available for laboratories and associated facilities, which are exclusively or largely for the use of postgraduate students and researchers; for non-laboratory workspace exclusively or largely for humanities and social sciences postgraduate students and researchers; and for library developments which will make a significant contribution to the research capabilities of both the relevant institution and the third-level sector as a whole. "We are recognising that postgraduate library facilities are specialised," comments the HEA's chairman, Dr Don Thornhill. "There is a need for pooling and open access within the institutions. It will be a condition of the grant that the library be open to all postgraduate students and researchers."

On the capital funding side, half the money is to be supplied by the government and half will be raised privately by the institutions. One third of the Exchequer spending (£25 million) will take the form of tax reliefs for corporate investment. A provision in Section 843 of the Taxes Consolidation Act 1997 already allows for this type of tax relief, which involves a leaseback arrangement between a third-level college and a financial institution. Through the leaseback, the financial institution gains certain tax advantages which it passes on to the college, Thornhill explains. Three schemes - the DCU library, the RCSI clinical sciences building and a sports-facilities project at UL - have already been approved under this heading. At the end of the leaseback arrangement, the college is able to buy out the property. It's thanks to the existing legislation that the Ministers of Finance and Education and Science have agreed to make £25 million available in the form of tax relief. The international assessment panel will include four international science and technology scholars and three similar academics from the humanities and social sciences. Three nonvoting, non-academic Irish panel members will also be appointed by the HEA.