There is plenty of good news to pour over in Science Foundation Ireland annual plan for 2015, released this week. Over the past 12 months the funding body made 23 awards totalling €30 million through its Investigators Programme – supporting 100 research positions in 40 companies. SFI’s 12 research centres are engaged in 252 collaborations with 115 multinationals and 116 SMEs. These centres – focused on areas like materials science and digital content – brought in €59 million in EU funding under Horizon 2020. There are plans for more such centres to be opened, with proposals to be accepted next year.
Thes relationship with the Wellcome Trust and the Royal Society is serving to copper fasten Ireland’s international standing. Thomson-Reuters InCites database puts Ireland at 14th in the world overall, with top five rankings in nanotechnology (2nd); immunology, agricultural & materials science (both 3rd); animal & dairy science (4th); chemistry, and mathematics (both 5th).
The issue of attracting talent of global stature remains thanks in part to a salary cap – though Ireland has plenty to recommend it as a place to live. At present SFI can put a claim to the appointment of high-profile academics Robert Bogdan Staszewski at UCD and Prof Michael Zaworotko at University of Limerick and it’s expected a further two ‘names’ will be coming subject to contract approval.
Next year, SFI will be introducing career development supports for graduates to address the dearth of MSc and PhD candidates, encourage women back to research, and introduce ‘challenge-based’ funding for projects targeting specific problems.
Diversity remains a sticking point. An acceptable 43/57% female/male split in undergraduate classes would seem an acceptable balance but when women find themselves juggling caregiving and work commitments, participation drops to roughly 25%. A scheme aimed specifically at attracting females back to Science hasn’t functioned. That it is hoped 25% of SFI’s award holders will be women by 2020 shows the extent of the challenge ahead.
Reaching out
A balanced report, to be sure, but one point stood out for me as a challenge to science in Ireland that, on the surface, appear to be good things. Some €2.8 million were allotted for outreach efforts, including the award-winning RTE productions The Science Squad and Brain Freeze – the latter is in the process of being franchised out to other markets. The message is getting through that a BSc is a gateway degree to any number of stable professions – and not ones that require white coats, either.
However, what interests me is how this sits within the context of the Science in Ireland Barometer released last October. According to this report careers in science are widely considered well-paid and attractive. So why isn’t everyone doing a BSc or progressing to masters level?
Discussing the subject Prof Mark Ferguson, SFI Director General and Chief Scientific Advisor to the Government of Ireland (pictured), said it came down to social factors: parents and students are concerned about ‘fitting in’ with their peers. Is this a case of stereotypical geeky social anxiety or something different? The perception that scientists are too smart for the rest of us presents a problem for outreach programmes working to dismantle the hard work of second level education to make STEM subjects inaccessible. Filling the talent gap will require a change in the populace but also at the Department of Education in formulating second level curricula. Putting the funding in place is one thing, changing teaching methods to attract students will require a different kind of shift to achieve. Let’s see what 2016 brings.
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