At the launch of EDGE from l-r: Prof Vincent Wade (Director, ADAPT), Prof Linda Doyle (Director, CONNECT), and Prof Michael Morris (Director, AMBER). Image via Paul Sharp/SHARPPIX
The trio of Science Foundation Ireland (SFI) research centres – ADAPT, AMBER and CONNECT – are to hire 71 ICT researchers under a newly-established postdoctoral programme called EDGE.
This latest round of EU Horizon 2020 funding is now the single biggest award for Trinity College Dublin (TCD) under the European research fund, totalling €6m and, additionally, the EU’s COFUND initiative will match €7m of funding already pledged to the EDGE project by the three centres.
With this funding, the new EDGE ICT programme will employ 71 researchers to work on advancing areas of research into materials, telecommunications networks and digital content technology.
Coordinated by Prof Linda Doyle, Director of the CONNECT Centre, and headquartered at TCD, the EDGE programme will also aim to attract more leading ICT researchers to Ireland’s third-level institutes in general.
Those who join the EDGE centre will also receive cross-disciplinary training in their chosen area of research.
Industry to play a major role
The director-general of SFI, Prof Mark Ferguson, welcomed the news, saying: “Today’s announcement is a major success story for Ireland, and is testament to the quality of research conducted at these SFI centres.
“I would like to congratulate the centre directors: Prof Linda Doyle (CONNECT), Prof Michael Morris (AMBER), and Prof Vincent Wade (ADAPT).”
Adding her thoughts as the centre’s new director, Doyle added: “Industry, in particular, will play a major role by providing secondment opportunities and specialised training to EDGE Fellows.
“The three participating research centres have unrivalled access to industrial partnerships and already work closely with more than 70 companies. EDGE will consolidate Ireland’s ‘knowledge triangle’, linking higher education, research innovation and industry.”
It’s envisioned that EDGE will run for five years with recruitment of the 71 postdoctoral researchers commencing in September 2016.
In total, 10 third-level institutes around the country are to participate in the programme under the coordination of the CONNECT Centre.
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