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Minister Harris welcomes €1.7 million funding for Ireland’s open research transition
From Department of Further and Higher Education, Research, Innovation and Science
Published on
Last updated on
From Department of Further and Higher Education, Research, Innovation and Science
Published on
Last updated on
Minister for Further and Higher Education, Research, Innovation and Science, Simon Harris, has today announced funding of €1.725 million to support the uptake and implementation of open research practices in Irish higher education institutions and the wider Irish research system. This funding is through the Higher Education Authority (HEA).
Open research enables the public to have access to research outputs and allows for researchers to collaborate on work.
Minister Harris commented:
“Ireland has a world-class reputation for research and innovation. Key to achieving this is the drive and commitment to excellence and impact of all members of our research community, across all disciplines.
“This announcement signals our Government’s commitment to open science, the sharing of research data and knowledge with each other nationally, and with our colleagues in Europe and beyond.
“It is working together to address grand challenges such as climate, population health, food security and society in an open and collaborative way.”
“Open research has the potential to be a gamechanger on the research landscape. During the pandemic, the speed at which scientists advanced their understanding of how the virus worked and how to fight it was greatly assisted by a culture of open research where research and data driven evidence was shared across the world’s research community, to the benefit of all.
“While there is a way to go in Ireland and in the EU to having open research embedded across the research system, this funding will advance the excellent work of Ireland’s National Open Research Forum on key open research priorities such as open access to research publications, access to research data, training for researchers and much more.”
Dr Alan Wall, CEO of the HEA, added:
“The HEA is highly supportive of a collaborative higher education and research system. While we have a range of institutions of different sizes, with distinct missions, and we want these to set and achieve their own ambitious goals for their students, their regions and Ireland, there is also value in shared agendas. An open approach to research outputs and dissemination gives us additional shared capacity to change, innovate and progress and demonstrates our commitment to openness and transparency.”
Ireland’s plans for open science are well aligned with the recommendations of organisations including the European Commission and UNESCO, which note the potential of open science to reduce inequalities and increase scientific cooperation through rapid and transparent knowledge-sharing.
Open science brings knowledge created in Ireland to the world stage and demonstrates the quality of our higher education, research, and innovation to a wider audience.
Open research, also referred to as open science or open scholarship, is an approach to research based on open cooperative work, tools, and knowledge-sharing, for the benefit of science and society.
Open research is an umbrella term for a variety of related practices, including:
Such practices make research processes and their outputs available to the widest possible audience and aim to enhance the quality, efficiency, and impact of research.
Open research refers to ongoing changes in the way research is conducted, reflecting a fundamental shift across Europe towards making research more transparent, collaborative, accessible, and efficient.
This includes a set of initiatives designed to making research freely available to the public. It spans open access to publications and data, as well as research infrastructures for hosting and diffusing data. These allow others to more easily access, reuse, and build on research results.
Open research is relevant to all research irrespective of field and purpose. The term ‘open research’ is used in the Irish context to clarify that all disciplines are included in the National Framework.
Ireland’s National Open Research Forum (NORF) was established in 2017 to drive the national agenda for open research and is co-chaired by the HEA and the Health Research Board .