Join us for the Inaugural Research Ireland Forum – 5th June 2025
We are pleased to announce the first Research Ireland Forum will take place on Thursday, 5th June 2025, from 10:00 to 16:30. This hybrid event will bring together a broad range of stakeholders both in-person and online to hear and engage with a number of invited speakers and panel discussions focussed on areas of strategic importance for the agency, building on the recent stakeholder consultations that have taken place on the formation of our strategic plan. While in-person attendance is by invite only, we warmly invite you to register now to join us online and take part in this important event.
To register for the Research Ireland Forum, click here.
Programme of events
10.00 – Welcome
- Michael Horgan, Chairperson, Research Ireland
10.15 – Unlocking Ireland’s Research and Innovation Potential in a Rapidly Changing Global Landscape
- Mark Little, Journalist and Digital Media Innovator, CEO & co-founder of Kinzen presentation
10.30 – Panel 1 – Collaboration for Innovation: Driving Progress through Partnership
Chair: Dr Siobhan Roche, Director, Research for the Economy, Research Ireland
- Dr Liam Brown, Vice President Research, Development & Innovation, Technological University of the Shannon: Midlands Midwest
- Marina Donohoe, Divisional Manager – Research & Innovation, Enterprise Ireland
- Dr Matt Kennedy, Head of Client Transformation, IDA
- Mark Little, Journalist and Digital Media Innovator, CEO & co-founder of Kinzen
- Q&A: Hybrid Audience Response and Engagement
11.15 – Refreshment Break
11.35 – Panel 2 – Excellent Research: Strategies for Shaping the Future
Chair: Dr Ciarán Seoighe, Deputy CEO, Research Ireland
- Professor Pat Guiry, President, Royal Irish Academy
- Professor Eeva Leinonen, President, Maynooth University; Chair, Irish Universities Association
- Professor Aoife McLysaght, Chair of Evolutionary Genetics, Trinity College Dublin and Government Science Advisor
- Dr Molly Morgan Jones, Director of Policy, The British Academy
- Q&A: Hybrid Audience Response and Engagement
12.20 – Research Shorts – Showcasing Excellent Research
MC: Peter Brown, Director, Researcher Development, Research Ireland
- Dr Benjamin Gearey, Lecturer in Environmental Archaeology, Department of Archaeology, University College Cork
- Sophie Matthews, PhD Candidate, Research Ireland CRT Genomic Data Science, School of Mathematical and Statistical Sciences, University of Galway
- Dr Niall Maloney, Lecturer in Physics and Instrumentation, Atlantic Technological University
- Dr Soumya Mukherjee, Assistant Professor of Chemistry, Department of Chemical Sciences, University of Limerick
- Dr Hazel Murray, Cybersecurity Lecturer, Munster Technological University
13.00 – Lunch
14.15 – Ministerial Address
- Minister for Further and Higher Education, Research, Innovation and Science, James Lawless TD in conversation with Dr Eoin O’Sullivan, Director of the Centre for Science, Technology & Innovation Policy at the University of Cambridge
15.00 – Research Shorts – Showcasing Excellent Research
MC: Peter Brown, Director, Researcher Development, Research Ireland
- Dr Nina Bresnihan, Assistant Professor & Course Director, Computer Science Joint Honours, School of Computer Science & Statistics, Trinity College Dublin
- Dr Robert Gillanders, Professor of Economics at Dublin University Business School and Co-Director of the DCU Anti-Corruption Research Centre
- Professor Caitriona Jackman, Senior Professor, Dublin Institute for Advanced Studies
- Professor Pádraig MacNeela, Professor of Psychology, University of Galway, and co-lead of the Active* Consent programme
15.30 – Panel 3 – Engaging Through Co-Creation: Building Shared Solutions for Change
Chair: Dr Ruth Freeman, Director, Research for Society, Research Ireland
- William Beausang, Assistant Secretary, Research and Innovation Division, Department of Further and Higher Education, Research, Innovation and Science
- Professor Linda Hogan, Professor of Ecumenics School of Religion, Theology, and Peace Studies, Trinity College Dublin
- Dr Aoibhinn Ní Shúilleabháin, School of STEM Education, Innovation & Global Studies, Dublin City University
- Professor Kevin O’Connor, Professor of Applied Microbiology and Biotechnology, University College Dublin; Director of BiOrbic Research Ireland Bioeconomy Research Centre
- Q&A: Hybrid Audience Response and Engagement
16.15 – Closing Remarks
- Celine Fitzgerald, Interim CEO, Research Ireland
For queries relating to the Research Ireland Forum, please contact forum@researchireland.ie