Our aims
All-Island Research Excellence Network
University College Dublin (UCD), Ulster University (Ulster) and Queen’s University Belfast (QUB) have joined forces to connect Research Managers and Administrators across the island of Ireland.
The initiative commenced in January 2021 to establish an All-Island Research Excellence Network (AIREN) of research support professionals across the island of Ireland and deliver benefits to the HEI and research sector and to those individuals working within the research management and administration space. The AIREN initiative is delivered with support from the partner institutions UCD, Ulster and QUB and will continue to build on the work of the AIREN Project that was funded through the InterTradeIreland (ITI) Synergy Programme from January 2021-March 2023. Synergy is a cross-border cluster initiative set up by ITI, the cross-border trade and business development body. It aims to scale cross border collaboration among SMEs and other players such as universities, third sector organisations and government agencies using cluster and networking supports.
Through AIREN, research support professionals across the island of Ireland will be proactive and develop new ways to support existing/build new cross-border collaborations between universities and with industry in the post Brexit era and COVID-19 pandemic. AIREN objectives include to:
- Develop the AIREN Network & Expand Membership
- Share Research Management Best Practice & Knowledge
- Identify & Maximise Funding Opportunities to Support All-island Research
The AIREN project will have tangible outputs that contribute to industry and the economy. It will seed and develop strategic North-South partnerships and collaborations in order to:
- Build on shared EU performance post-Brexit
- Exploit existing and new North-South Programmes/Investments
- Support research areas that would benefit from all-Island research on a geographical basis
- Enhance Ireland’s all-island research eco-system through: knowledge exchange; developing specialised skills; interacting with other professional research management networks.