SFI's International Research Partnership (IRP) Supplement encourages collaboration between researchers in Ireland and foreign countries.  Existing SFI-funded PIs only are eligible to apply for the IRP Supplement.

Call Documentation
International Research Partnership Supplement Call (Word) (PDF).

The economies of both countries participating in this programme must be predicated on knowledge-driven sustainable research, global partnership and the fostering of creativity through collaboration. 

The emphasis here is to support talented visionary scientists in a bilateral exchange program to the mutual benefit of Ireland and the participating country.

SFI together with the other relevant national agency will jointly fund research collaborations between the scientists from both countries, following rigorous scientific quality assessment and the strategic relevance of these collaborations for each country. 

The IRP process is envisaged as follows: Following thematic scientific workshops between the participating countries, or from direct relationships between Irish scientists and scientists in the participating countries, an IRP Application would be prepared jointly by both parties and submitted simultaneously to SFI and the other national funding agency.   Both SFI and the foreign agency will review this same application and each will make their assessment decision independently. Only in the case of a positive decision on both sides, will there be a recommendation to fund the collaboration.

It is anticipated that the IRP mechanism will be used for bi-lateral collaborations with countries with which Ireland has an understanding to facilitate research collaborations.