Minister Harris announces €1.9 million funding to support Ireland’s National Action Plan for Open Research

Posted: 2 March, 2023

Minister for Further and Higher Education, Research, Innovation and Science Simon Harris TD has today (March 2^nd, 2023) announced funding of €1.9 million to advance Ireland’s Action Plan for Open Research.

Open research offers the public free access to research findings and encourages collaboration and sharing of information for the benefit of science and society.

This funding will be used to do a number of things including increasing public engagement with research and citizen science, establishing a culture of open research and working towards 100 per cent open access to research publications.

Speaking today, Minister Harris said: “The international movement towards greater openness and transparency in research sets new expectations for research to be open, collaborative and shared for the benefit of science and society.

“This funding announced today will support the implementation of Ireland’s National Action Plan for Open Research and its ongoing work to further embed open research practices across the research system.

“The value of open research was clearly illustrated during the COVID-19 pandemic, when sharing research and evidence greatly accelerated understanding of the virus, and how to fight it, to the benefit of all.”

Ireland’s National Action Plan for Open Research 2022-2030 and the associated funding strengthens Ireland’s commitment to open research, including our contribution to the European Research Area Policy Agenda and its priority action to enable the open sharing of knowledge and the re-use of research outputs.

The funding of €1.9 million will be delivered through the Higher Education Authority (HEA).

Dr Alan Wall, CEO of the HEA, said: “Significant progress has been made to date in advancing the open research agenda, with six collaborative projects involving more than 30 national stakeholder organisations currently working on advancing prioritised actions identified in the National Action Plan for Open Research.

“The collaborative approach taken by institutions to help progress the open research agenda benefits institutions, researchers and aids the competitiveness and international reputation of Irish research.

“Sectoral collaboration and support for open research progresses the removal of barriers to research and makes the benefits of research more accessible to the higher education sector, policy makers and our society in a way the HEA fully supports.”

ENDS 

Notes to the Editor

Open research benefits everyone by making research available without barriers to researchers, policymakers, students and citizens. As demonstrated by COVID-19, open and timely access to research publications, data and other outputs is essential to meet societal needs and grand challenges such as climate change, sustainability and disease control.

Ireland’s National Action Plan for Open Research 2022-2030 was developed by the National Open Research Forum (NORF). NORF was established in 2017 to drive the Irish agenda for open research. NORF combines the expertise of representatives from policy, research funding organisations, research performing organisations, the library sector, enterprise and other key stakeholders in the research system across Ireland. NORF is co-chaired by the Higher Education Authority (HEA) and the Health Research Board.

The funding announced today is provided through the HEA to support the implementation of Ireland’s National Action Plan for Open Research 2022-2030.

The Plan is aligned with Impact 2030: Ireland’s Research and Innovation Strategy, and has three broad themes:

• establishing a culture of open research;
• working towards 100% open access to research publications;
• enabling FAIR (Findable, Accessible, Interoperable, Reusable) research data and other outputs.

This Plan strengthens Ireland’s commitment to open research, including our contribution to the European Research Area Policy Agenda and its priority action to enable the open sharing of knowledge and the re-use of research outputs.

The funds are being administered by the Digital Repository of Ireland as the coordinating organisation for NORF, headquartered under the legal entity of the Royal Irish Academy. Today’s funding announcement is a follow-up to initial funding announced in 2022.