A new call for 40 doctoral and masters level researchers under the Embark Initiative is understood to be co-funded by IBM, Sustainable Energy Ireland and the Marine Institute.
So far the Embark Initiative, which falls under the auspices of the Irish Research Council for Science, Engineering and Technology (IRCSET), has made offers totalling €6.9m to 120 talented researchers in science, engineering and technology this year.
The latest call for 40 additional researchers will bring total investment this year to approximately €2m.
Within the call, IBM will support up to five awards for scholars under the supervision of senior scientists at the company’s Dublin Centre for Advanced Studies, joining two other graduates who joined as a result of the first call in 2004.
Under the call Sustainable Energy Ireland will fund one graduate, while the Marine Institute will fund four new PhD awards in research areas covering the application of IT to marine science and marine data development.
To date, a total of 499 graduates are currently supported by IRCSET and partners like IBM and the Marine Institute. In the run-up to the Barcelona Objective 2010, every EU member state must achieve expenditure of 3pc of GDP and the Embark Initiative is seen as one of the original steps in Ireland providing continuous investment achieving this ambition.
Professor Thomas Mitchell, chairman of the Irish Research Council, commented: “These new awards will be a significant advance in providing a challenging environment for the formation of our best talent. This programme will ensure a further supply of researchers in Ireland, which are so vital to our society, industry and the economy.”
By John Kennedy
