New Collaborative Research Centres to Launch Across UK and Ireland

Collaborative funding opportunity to launch in November 2022 to support new collaborative research centres across Ireland and the UK.

A new collaborative funding opportunity worth £64 million is set to launch in mid-November 2022 to support the creation of new collaborative research centres across the UK and Ireland. The ‘Co Centres: Collaboration for Transformative Research and Innovation’ opportunity will focus on climate, and sustainable and resilient food systems themes.

The opportunity will be run by Science Foundation Ireland (SFI), Northern Ireland’s Department of Agriculture, Environment and Rural Affairs (DAERA) and UK Research and Innovation (UKRI). The programme will establish joint, virtual research centres with the aim of strengthening the research and innovation base within Ireland and the UK, building strategic partnerships across these regions to support a competitive economy and addressing societal and environmental challenges.

The co-centres will be structured according to the existing SFI model incorporating cutting edge academic research underpinning collaborative research projects with industry.

£35 million of funding has been provided through the Shared Island Fund and the Department of Further and Higher Education, Research, Innovation and Science, to SFI for the co-centres programme. Additional funding includes an allocation of up to £17 million by DAERA and a UKRI budget allocation of up to £12 million.

Each co-centre is expected to be funded for a duration of 72 months.

Simon Harris TD, Minister for Further and Higher Education, Research, Innovation and Science said:

“I am delighted to announce the launch of the new co-centre programme.

“We have seen in recent years how important it is to invest in collaborative research and we are pleased to be able to support this ambitious new programme through the government’s Shared Island initiative.

“By working together, we can foster new research collaborations that are crucial to addressing both climate, and sustainable and resilient food systems, these are critical issues that impact on all of us.”

Further details of the announcement are available on the UKRI website.

(This report was the subject of a ResearchConnect Newsflash.)