The State is investing in science, but the body for researchers is unhappy. Its chairwoman tells Dick Ahlstrom, Science Editor, why
State support for scientific research has rocketed in the past few years. Between them, two key funding programmes received in excess of €1.2bn to support research under the National Development Plan. Yet scientists active in research are concerned about these developments.
It is not the Government's newfound willingness to fund research that is the cause for concern, explains the chairwoman of the Irish Research Scientists' Association, Dr Fiona Regan. Rather, it is the way the funding is moving through the system.
"We are complaining because we don't think the money is being well spent," Regan says. "We have come on leaps and bounds for increases in research here, but as IRSA has always said, there is a problem in the way money is being spent."
Nor will she heap praise on the Government, given our poor performance compared to science spending elsewhere in the EU. The EU's own target for research investment is 3 per cent of GDP by 2010. Despite the significant increase, our current spend is just 1.2 per cent of GDP, one of the lowest in the EU.
Regan is an analytical chemist at Dublin City University and became IRSA's chair earlier this year, taking over from NUI Galway's Dr Donal Leech. IRSA remains very concerned with how the money is being invested and what returns it might give the State in the long run.
The bulk of invest+ment is going into large-scale projects, particularly in the universities via Science Foundation Ireland (SFI) and the Programme for Investment in Third Level Institutions (PRTLI), run by the Higher Education Authority. Both have put substantial amounts of money into big high-profile projects, with funding in the millions.
A smaller amount of cash is used for small-scale research efforts, via the Embark Initiative run by the Irish Research Council for Science, Engineering and Technology (IRCSET), and Enterprise Ireland's funding programme for basic research. Together they have about €100m to invest through 2006 in projects run by individuals and small groups in the universities and ITs.
While the big projects are "wonderful", Regan and IRSA believe that the State might get more research bang for its buck by putting more into the project work. One of the biggest risks, she believes, has to do with the continuity of funding.
While SFI's budgets are rolling ahead after last November's 2003 spending estimates, PRTLI faced a setback with the suspension of its capital spending budget for 2003. It remains unclear when this funding, which is crucial for many of the large PRTLI award recipients, might come back on stream.
Quite aside from temporary financial restrictions imposed by the Department of Finance, Regan also questions what the long-term prognosis is for these two funding bodies. Will there be a second National Development Plan that takes such an interest in science?
"The PRTLI programme is essentially on hold. What happens when that money has run out? Who is going to fund those centres and researchers," put in place by the PRTLI and SFI programmes, if there is no budget?
IRSA is also concerned about SFI's role in funding research in just two key areas, biotechnology and information and communications technology. "The whole nature of things is change," Regan says. If international research efforts drift from these two areas, where will that leave the Republic's heavy investment in them?
SFI earlier this month put €42m into just three research centres here. "I think we need to be careful. I think we can get money better spent than putting it into three centres," says Regan. "Are we actually looking ahead? The way to look ahead is to create a perpetual fund that is independent from economic downturns. Research should never be in a position where it is threatened by a lack of funding."
IRSA's view, first pronounced in 1996, is that the State should create a "perpetual fund for research", an investment that provides funding, regardless of what happens to the wider economy.
"Denmark did it in 1991 and Norway have done it," says Regan. "I think we need to be in line with other countries. Really, you are not talking about funding research, but investing in research with foresight."
- More information about IRSA and its activities is available on its web site, www.irsa.ie