[dropcap]D[/dropcap]ublin City University research is set to benefit from a €10 million grant issued by the EU Horizon 2020 programme, the Marie Skłodowska-Curie actions (MSCA).
Up to 100 high value research jobs are set to be created across higher level institutions, civil society organisations, public bodies, companies and research institution due to the recent successful applications.
DCU based astronomical researcher Dr John Regan has been working with the Marie Skłodowska-Curie Research Fellowship since last October and speaking to the the Irish Times, he said “it has given me huge confidence in my scientific ability. The goal now is to build on the award and break new ground in theoretical astrophysics.”
Regan says that the awards are a “massive shot in the arm to any academic CV and they come with generous research funding”.
The Irish Marie Skłodowska-Curie Office, who supported the successful applications, have been working in conjunction with the Irish University Association (IUA) and Irish Research Council (IRC) since 2012, securing €100 million of European funding for Irish research in the process.
The Chief Executive Officer for the IUA, Ned Costello, said that he is “particularly pleased to see the strong links between the universities, industry and civil society translating into successful funding applications.
The IUA looks forward to continuing the partnership with the IRC to support the wider research community in Ireland in continuing to improve on Ireland’s exemplary performance in the MSCA”.
The MSCA is a fund set up by the EU’s Horizon 2020 programme which aims to ‘ensure Europe produces world-class science, removes barriers to innovation and makes it easier for the public and private sectors to work together in delivering innovation.’
Horizon 2020 was established in 2014 and is the EU’s largest Research and Innovation programme which will have close to €80 billion of funding available over its seven year existence.
On the 29th of November 2016 MSCA celebrated its 20th anniversary and as over €100m has now been obtained by Irish applicants, MSCA are officially the most successful means of securing research funding for Ireland.
William Dunne