said the awards “should be embedded as annual calls, as they had the potential to improve Ireland’s performance and enhance the success of Ireland-based researchers in competing for prestigious grants from the ERC and in Horizon Europe”.
Mr McHugh said the IRC programme was designed to address gaps in the Irish research and innovation landscape in “frontier basic research”, as identified in Innovation 2020, Ireland’s five-year strategy for science and technology, research and development. Funding frontier research was vital “to compete with our counterparts on the global stage, and to promote Ireland as an attractive location for world-class talent, both homegrown and international, in order to bring new knowledge, skills and innovations to our research institutions”.