Annual Report 2021

A €23 million joint investment to support postdoctoral researchers to become research leaders was announced, co-funded by SFI and the Irish Research Council (IRC). The SFI-IRC Pathway Programme will see 40 early career researchers across all disciplines, developing cutting-edge projects over a four-year period and will ensure greater cohesion across Ireland’s research performing institutions.

Working in partnership with over 80 Government Departments, public bodies and societal representative organisations, SFI led a national conversation on research. The people of Ireland were encouraged to share their ideas on what they think researchers should explore to create a better future. Over 18,000 submissions were received between July and November 2021. Ideas were generated through conversations on the role of research at over 1,500 online and in-person brainstorms and events, including roadshows that visited every county in Ireland.

The TAPAS project National University Ireland Galway (NUIG) won €1 million in the SFI Future Innovator Prize Challenge ‘AI for Societal Good’, while the Farm Zero C project (UCD) won €2 million under the Zero Emissions challenge. A new €2.47 million challenge was launched in partnership with Irish Aid, to develop solutions that contribute to the UN Sustainable Development Goals. A new challenge in collaboration with the Defence Organisation was also launched. Eight teams progressed under challenges in the areas of food waste and plastics. In 2021, SFI was appointed to design and deliver national-scale challenge-based funding under the National Recovery and Resilience Plan, for launch in 2022.

The SFI Frontiers for the Future programme saw €47 million invested across 70 grants to support excellent independent researchers. This will provide opportunities for early career researchers through to well established leaders to conduct high-risk, high reward research projects. It is run in collaboration with the Geological Survey Ireland (GSI) and the Sustainable Energy Authority of Ireland (SEAI), across nine Higher Education Institutions. 46% of the research grants supported will be led by women researchers and 33% by emerging Investigators.

Prof Dimitra Psychogiou was awarded a prestigious SFI Research Professorship to spearhead a pioneering research programme at Tyndall National Institute (TNI) and University College Cork (UCC). She is a world-leading expert in Radio Frequency and wireless communication, and her research will help lead to lower-cost broadband wireless infrastructure, making digital and internet services more accessible to the general public.

The SFI Industry RD&I Fellowship was launched in 2021, to support research, development and innovation (RD&I) in industry. Companies across the world will host a PhD qualified research expert to facilitate cutting-edge, industry-informed research and the sharing of knowledge. 27 awards were made in 2021, co-funded with industry, across a variety of research areas including microbiology, virtual reality (VR), biotechnology, coastal erosion, breast cancer, photodynamic therapy and more.