The Government must maintain its funding of research aimed at building Ireland's knowledge economy, argues the director of the Irish Research Council for Science Engineering and Technology, Martin Hynes
THE HEAD OF Ireland's research council has warned against any reduction in Government spending on science given its central role in the development of a knowledge economy. Ireland has built a superb reputation abroad for the quality of its research and any indication of a row-back in State support would be damaging.
The director of the Irish Research Council for Science, Engineering and Technology, Martin Hynes, made his comments ahead of the Government's unprecedented early Budget on October 14th. The Budget promises widespread spending cuts, but Hynes believes reductions in State investment in research could affect our standing abroad.
"It is a difficulty for everyone clearly, but we have to hold our nerve," he says. "Now is not the time to lose our clarity of purpose."
It has taken some years to build our international standing for quality scientific research. A measure of success can be seen in the willingness of senior researchers and professors based abroad to relocate to Ireland to take up funding coming through programmes available from Science Foundation Ireland.
The Council's efforts to develop both local research talent and attract top post-graduates and post-doctoral researchers from abroad is another important indicator of how we are viewed abroad, Hynes says. Countries around the world compete head to head to win the best postdoctoral researchers so we are up against the US, other EU states and also China and Singapore.
The Council has, since 2002, made more than 1,500 awards to post-graduates and post-doctoral researchers who then conduct their work here. Over the past three years, between a third and half of the post-graduate awards went to non-Irish researchers, but between 70 and 75 per cent of the post-doctoral awards have gone to non-Irish recipients, according to Council figures.
Post-doctoral research fellows are the linchpin of basic research and are often directly involved in the most important scientific discoveries. "Our institutions have the ability to attract the best of the best," says Mr Hynes. "It is not just the money, they come because the [ research] environment is exciting."
The local pool of researchers is also very strong and developing all of the time, he adds. "We have plenty of talent in Ireland. What brought in Intel? What brought in Wyeth? It was the availability of talented people."
This talent is in turn nurtured and developed in our universities and institutes, with funding via bodies such as the research councils, SFI, the Higher Education Authority, Health Research Board and others. The investment made in these graduates is repaid in the ability to attract foreign direct investment from research intensive companies. "If we are to maintain a fertile field for investment, talent is the only thing that will deliver this," Hynes argues. And the availability of this talent has also built our reputation for science. "The leadership and the visibility throughout Europe that Ireland has shown has really had an impact abroad," he says.
Reputations can also be lost however. "Now is not the time to damage that accomplishment. All you have to do is give the suspicion you are faltering," he warns. "We can't lose that leadership. We have it and have everything in place and to even consider losing it would be damaging."