HEA North-South Research Programme

Funding is available for higher education institutions in the Republic of Ireland to collaborate with their counterparts in Northern Ireland on research, development and innovation activities in any discipline at an individual researcher, team or institutional level over a period from one to four years.

The North-South Research Programme is a collaborative scheme arising from the Government of Ireland’s Shared Island initiative, which includes a commitment towards a comprehensive programme of research to support the building of consensus around a shared future on the island of Ireland.

The Government intends this programme to support the deepening of links between higher education institutions, researchers and research communities on the island of Ireland, delivering all-island approaches to research and innovation.

Specifically, this programme will support collaborative research, innovation and development between individuals, research teams (in and between disciplines) as well as between higher education institutions (HEIs) on the island of Ireland, up to and including support for all-island partnerships of scale focusing on shared challenges such as those identified within Horizon Europe’s mission-based approach or the United Nation’s identified Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs).

All disciplines in science, medicine, engineering, technology, arts and humanities, including areas of creative practice and social science, are eligible for consideration.

The key principles of the programme are as follows:

• Strengthen research, innovation, development and collaboration in and between individuals and institutions by rewarding innovation and excellence thereby enhancing the higher education sector, North and South.
• Enhance the research, teaching and learning continuum and the skills, quality and relevance of graduate output.
• Promote networks of excellence and partnerships of scale for research, innovation and development.
• Contribute to policy development relevant to the Shared Island initiative and benefiting enterprise and communities, North and South.
• Contribute to capacity building, place-making/innovation districts.

Applicants may choose from three different strands:

1. Bilateral researcher-researcher projects – this strand will support individual researchers based in an Irish HEI to collaborate with a researcher in a HEI in Northern Ireland and vice versa on an identified research project.
2. Emerging hubs of excellence – this strand will support academic research teams to collaborate on an agreed work programme; interdisciplinary collaborations will be encouraged.
3. Partnerships of scale – this strand will support institution to institution strategic research engagement: HEIs will be supported to collaborate with each other on the basis of their respective institutional strategic research priorities.

The North-South Research Programme is managed by the Higher Education Authority (HEA) on behalf of the Department of Further and Higher Education, Research, Innovation and Science. HEA expects that at least two calls for proposals will issue under this scheme, an initial call in 2021 and a subsequent call in 2023.