{"id":479652,"date":"2026-06-02T19:14:10","date_gmt":"2026-06-02T19:14:10","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/479652\/"},"modified":"2026-06-02T19:14:10","modified_gmt":"2026-06-02T19:14:10","slug":"research-funding-body-neglects-arts-and-humanities-university-staff-say-the-irish-times","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/479652\/","title":{"rendered":"Research funding body neglects arts and humanities, university staff say \u2013 The Irish Times"},"content":{"rendered":"

Almost 2,000 academics and researchers have signed a letter saying the State\u2019s main research funding body is too focused on areas industry <\/a>wants developed to the neglect of the arts, humanities and social sciences<\/a>. <\/p>\n

The open letter, addressed to the Minister for Further and Higher Education James Lawless, expresses \u201cdeep concern\u201d about the recently published priorities of Taighde \u00c9ireann\/Research Ireland. <\/p>\n

The agency has \u20ac2.45 billion* in public funds to distribute over the next five years – part of the \u20ac4.55 billion allocated by Government for research and innovation grants and facilities, but the signatories say its approach is too \u201cindustry-centred, commercially-focused, profit-seeking\u201d.<\/p>\n

[\u00a0Sidelining the humanities \u2018a terrifying prospect\u2019Opens in new window<\/a>\u00a0]<\/p>\n

\u201cThis new strategy is an assault on Ireland\u2019s research ecosystem<\/a>,\u201d it says. <\/p>\n

\u201cThe imbalance in funding weakens academic freedom and its strong private-sector bias is a threat to democratic processes.\u201d <\/p>\n

The online letter had 1,947 signatures early on Monday evening, of which 1,810 had been verified by those organising the response. <\/p>\n

The Department of Further and Higher Education said in a statement that the letter had been brought to the Minister\u2019s attention and he had noted the concerns expressed in it. <\/p>\n

However, the statement said Research Ireland\u2019s mandate was \u201cexplicitly inclusive of discovery research, basic research, and research in the arts, humanities and social sciences, alongside translational and enterprise-facing work\u201d. <\/p>\n

\u201cResearch Ireland\u2019s Strategy, which the Minister brought to Government prior to its publication, reflects this balanced mandate. The Minister understands that Research Ireland is preparing a detailed response to the issues raised in the letter, and he welcomes that engagement. <\/p>\n

\u201cHe is confident that Research Ireland is committed to listening carefully to the concerns of researchers across all disciplines and to responding to them in a way that gives appropriate assurance.\u201d <\/p>\n

The agency\u2019s strategy commits to setting up an advisory council \u201cto ensure ongoing input from the full breadth of the research community\u201d. <\/p>\n

However, the letter says the views of the research community were made known in a 2023 letter with more than 2,500 signatories that called for balance between Stem subjects \u2013 science, technology, engineering and maths \u2013 and the arts, humanities and social science. <\/p>\n

Despite this, the latest funding strategy is \u201cstructurally, rhetorically and materially focused on commercially translatable research and economic impact rather than supporting bedrock, fundamental, discovery research and research for the public good. <\/p>\n

[\u00a0How generative AI is forcing university professors to rethink learningOpens in new window<\/a>\u00a0]<\/p>\n

\u201cThe disproportionate focus on industry interests instead of discovery research and the public interest marginalises the Arts, Humanities and Social Sciences and the fundamental sciences, and minimises research for social good and research that is truly innovative and ground-breaking.\u201d <\/p>\n

The first signatories to the letter are professors and assistant professors from Maynooth University, Trinity College, University College Dublin, University of Galway, Dublin City University and University of Limerick. <\/p>\n

They represent a range of disciplines including computer science, English, mathematical sciences, Irish studies, artificial intelligence, climate science, art history and digital communications. <\/p>\n

*This article was amended on June 2nd, 2026 to differentiate between spending on research grants and overall research and innovation funding<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Almost 2,000 academics and researchers have signed a letter saying the State\u2019s main research funding body is too…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":479653,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2],"tags":[61,60,43],"class_list":["post-479652","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-ireland","tag-ie","tag-ireland","tag-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/479652","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=479652"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/479652\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/479653"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=479652"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=479652"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=479652"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}