The Minister for Education and Science has introduced a new funding system to support young graduate science students. The new Irish Research Council for Science Engineering and Technology complements a similar body which funds humanities researchers.
Dr Woods announced the initiative this week at an event to mark the first full year of the Research Council for the Humanities and Social Sciences. More than 1,000 postgraduate students have applied under the scheme and one in five has received support.
The new council will have a similar role, providing financial backing to help keep young Irish scientists working in research here. It is also designed to attract non-national researchers.
The two councils have £100 million at their disposal under the National Development Plan, which runs until 2006. "An increased level of research activity leading to innovation is essential to our economic future," Dr Woods said. The funding would increase substantially the number of research students in science, engineering and technology.
He said the new science council would support graduate and postgraduate researchers and provide additional funding for research projects. It would be an independent and autonomous body and would be chaired by Dr Tom Mitchell, Provost of Trinity College Dublin. The full membership of the council would be announced soon.
The new body was welcomed by the chairman of the Higher Education Authority, Dr Don Thornhill, who said it would be an important complement to the work of the HEA in managing the Programme for Research in Third Level Institutions and the research funding activities of Science Foundation Ireland, the Health Research Board and Enterprise Ireland.
It would play an essential role in research in Ireland by supporting young Irish scientists.
The council was "a much-needed mechanism for the promotion and development of research", the chairman of the Conference of Heads of Irish Universities, Dr Roger Downer, said.
