The University of Limerick can play a key role in regional and national development, according to its new head of research. Dick Ahlstrom reports
Research has taken on a new importance at the University of Limerick. The university has created a new position, vice-president of research, and its first holder has all sorts of plans for the future.
"I have set myself all sorts of goals," says Prof Vincent Cunnane, who holds the post for the next three years. He plans to work for research in the sciences - but also the humanities - and has established five key research targets for the coming years.
UL is a young university, he says, and this has been a "very dynamic time for Irish research" with the new funding programmes brought into play by the previous administration.
"Our research strategy is to target key areas based on our age profile and build on existing strengths," says Cunnane.
He is delighted to have been selected as the first vice-president for research. The appointment comes at an important time given that UL hasn't fared quite so well in winning State research funding as some of the other universities.
"UL has been very successful in a large range of programmes, particularly in Europe," he says. It now earns about €10 million a year in research funding and this figure "has been growing", he adds. "It looks from the early months of this year that it will be €12 million and that is outside of PRTLI [the Department of Education and Science's Programme for Research in Third Level Institutions, which has become a major funder of scientific research]."
His position may have become necessary given UL's lack of success with the PRTLI.
"Within a national context, we haven't been as successful with PRTLI except for cycle one [the first funding round]," he states. He is confident that this picture is now changing and his new role at the university should help accelerate this change.
He has plenty of research experience to back this up, previously serving as assistant dean of research in the College of Science at UL from 1994 to 1998. More recently, he has been involved in lecturing and research in the department of chemical and environmental sciences and at UL's Materials and Surface Science Institute.
Originally from Stranorlar in Co Donegal, he did his undergraduate studies in chemistry at NUI Galway. After working in industry for a number of years, he completed a PhD in electrochemistry at University College Cork and then worked at the University of Southampton before moving to UL in 1990.
He identifies five key areas for the university, which, he says, will play on existing strengths. These include supporting the work of the Materials and Surface Science Institute and building on the information and communications technology.
"We have been well-known in the electronic engineering side of things and on the software side. Those are key areas for us as well," he says.
UL will target areas such as biosciences, biotechnology, the humanities and social sciences. Another area where UL has cultivated expertise is in the multidisciplinary area of work quality and productivity.
"That involves the whole aspect of work relationships," says Cunnane.
The approach involves looking at quality systems within organisations, increasing productivity and helping a company to move up the "value chain" with the products it produces. It is about systems, but also about people and how they interact with these systems.
It is a multidisciplinary research centre, he says, including four or five research departments, such as electronics, informatics and psychology.This reflects a broader goal expressed by Cunnane.
"Our research ethos would be to develop multidisciplinary research centres. That is at the core of the UL research philosophy," he says.
UL WOULalso seek to serve as a link both for the region and for the State. "I see that as a vital component, the key to developing regionally and nationally," says Cunnane.
It contributes on these two fronts through its position, sitting at the centre of a national technological park, a joint venture between the university and Shannon Development. It includes an innovation centre, which facilitates the creation of campus companies.
"That has been very successful. There have been 22 companies that have formed with links to the university," he says.
Ultimately, Cunnane sees his role as introducing "strategies and structures to allow our talented researchers to grow. My problem is to facilitate them as young researchers. I see my main role as facilitating their development".
In the medium term he hopes to increase "UL's share of large funding opportunities both nationally and internationally".
Eventually he wants "to have a research ethos within the organisation whereby all decisions within the organisation are influenced by this research ethos".