1. research
education
Why Go Into Research ? The funding process & sources of funding. How to apply for funding ? How to manage a funded project ?
Dr. Marek Rebow
skills
innovation
enterprise

2. Faculty of Engineering Research in a Nutshell

3. POSTGRADUATE RESEARCHERS as on 1st NOVEMBER 2008
Faculty of Engineering Research in a Nutshell
POSTGRADUATE RESEARCHERS as on 1st NOVEMBER 2008
School
Civil & Build. Services
Manufac & Design
Mech & Trans.
Electrical Eng. Sys.
Electronic & Comm.
Whole Time 7 5 12 15
Part Time 8 1 2
Over Run 6 11
Submitted 3
Temp withdrawn 16 30 39
TOTAL:
112 (25 faculty)
CONTRACT RESEARCHERS as on 1st NOVEMBER 2008
SFI STOKES Professor: 1
SFI STOKES Lecturer: 2
Research Assistants: 1
Postdoctoral Fellows: 10
Research Associates/Managers: 8
TOTAL: 22

4. Faculty of Engineering Research in a Nutshell
POSTGRADUATE RESEARCH SUPERVISORS as on 1st NOVEMBER 2008
School of Electrical Engineering Systems: 16
School of Electronic and Communications Eng.: 10
School of Manufacturing and Design Eng.: 6
School of Mechanical and Transport Eng.: 4
School of Civil and Building Services Eng.: 9
Internal supervisors from the Faculty & DIT: 7
TOTAL: 52
RESEARCH INCOME:
Research income in 2007: €3,500,000
Research income by October 2008: €1,800,000
Value of research proposals under evaluations: €8,083,000
Value of research proposals not approved in 2008: €3,317,000

5. DIT’s Graduate Research School
The recently established DIT’s Graduate Research School (GRS) is the new 'virtual' entity designed to support and develop graduate research education across the organisation and to define the DIT community of research students and research student supervisors. The GRS enables the provision of generic skills training to all researchers to meet the challenge of interdisciplinary research, in addition to providing transferable skills modules which help PhD students to develop the skills required to effectively manage their PhD research project and improve their future career prospects.
The following R&D training blocks are available:
research environment,
research techniques / methodology,
personal effectiveness,
research management,
specific skills,
communication,
team work,
career management,
induction/personal development plan.

6. DIT’s Graduate Research School
As part of the new research student’s induction programme, students will be asked to complete a Skills Needs Analysis Report. The aim of this report is to assist students in identifying the key skills that they already have and those they will need acquire to effectively manage their research project. The information provided in this skills analysis exercise will be used by the student and supervisor to establish the student’s personal development plan.
Under the Strategic Innovation Fund (SIF), Cycle 2 DIT has been awarded significant funding to establish the ‘Dublin Regional Higher Education Alliance (DRHEA)’, including Graduate Education programme training and sharing of modules among IoTs and Universities.

7. DIT International Collaborative Research
25 Countries in the EU
China
India
USA
South America

8. Research Groups/Centres/Institutes within the Faculty of Engineering
Audio Research Group (Centre of Excellence)
Applied Optoelectronics Centre
Centre for Elastomeric Research
Communications Network Research Institute (CNRI)
Antennas & High Frequency Research Group
Dublin Energy Lab
Electrical Power Research Group
Biomedical Engineering, Assistive Technology and Health Informatics
National Institute for Transport Logistic

9. Biomedical Engineering, Assistive Technology and Health Informatics
The Biomedical Engineering, Assistive Technology and Health Informatics research group “TeaPOT”, consolidates its members' ongoing research into technology that interacts with humans and the human body - People Orientated Technology (POT).
The group's activities include research and teaching in biomedical signal processing, human-computer interfaces, assistive technology, rehabilitation engineering and health informatics. TeaPOT ( is involved in collaborations with Enable Ireland, the National Rehabilitation Hospital (NRH), St. James' Hospital, the Central Remedial Clinic (CRC) and Age Action Ireland.
The Group consists of 6 faculty, 1 postdoctoral fellow, 3 PhD researchers and collaborates closely with biomedical engineering group in Bolton St which encompasses 8 faculty and 6 PhD researchers.

10. Audio Research Group (Centre of Excellence)
The Audio Engineering and Speech Processing research group has had a number of significant achievements in sound source separation, time scale modification, and automatic music transcription. They are lead partner to a European Commission FP6 funded project EASAIER and an Enterprise Ireland Commercialisation project IMAAS. Sound source separation, a novel method for extraction of an instrument from a recorded ensemble (ADRess: Azimuth Discrimination and Resynthesis, by Dan Barry) has resulted in a successful patent and subsequent licensing agreement with a leading audio research company (
The Group compromises: 1 PI, 1 senior researcher, 2 faculty, 1 postdoc, 7 PhD/MPhil researchers

11. Photonics Research Group
The Photonics Research Group is within the Applied Optoelectronics Centre. The Group is undertaking research in a number of areas of photonics and optical fiber communications. The Centre was founded in 1996 by Dr. Farrell, who is the Centre Director. The Centre is located in the School of Electronic and Communications Engineering in the Dublin Institute of Technology on the Kevin St. Campus. The group consists of 6 Ph.D. graduate students, 2 post-docs and
2 members of the academic staff, under the leadership of the Principle Investigator, Dr. Gerald Farrell.
Inexpensive Disposable Fibre Temperature Sensor
Researchers of this group have invented a single-loop, single-mode fibre sensor that is one tenth the cost of a FBG sensor. To analyse the sensor data, a simple Ratiometric Power Measurement (RPM) technique is used which costs significantly less than traditional tunable laser based or interferometric interrogation techniques.

12. Communications Network Research Institute (CNRI)
The CNRI has origins in the School of Electronic and Communications Engineering and is headed-up by  Dr. Mark Davis. The research staff complement currently stands at 3 Postdoctoral Fellows, 1 Research Assistant, 3 PhD and 3 MPhil full-time candidates.
The CNRI is funded under a SFI  Multi-Investigator Award and under an Enterprise Ireland Informatics Initiative project.
The CNRI is undertaking research in the area of wireless networks and specifically the IEEE family of wireless LAN standards.
The main focus of the work is in radio resource management for quality of service (QoS) provisioning. QoS provisioning is a critical element in the delivery of real-time services such as Voice over IP (VoIP) and video streaming over wireless networks

13. Antennas & High Frequency Research Group
Antenna & High Frequency Research Group specialises in the analysis, design and measurement of RF and microwave devices for wireless communications and medical applications.
Current research themes include Multiband & Wideband Antennas for Portable Communications, Base-Stations Antennas, Hyperthermia Antennas and Antennas for Sensor Networks. Equipped with a comprehensive range of analysis methods, manufacturing equipment and a measurement laboratory, the team can rapidly expedite ideas to qualified prototypes.
This multi-national group of researcher is directed by Dr Max Ammann in the School of Electronic & Communications Engineering and comprises personnel who range from MSc studentships to post-doctoral levels.

14. Dublin Energy Lab
The Dublin energy lab (DEL) is a leader in science and engineering energy research in Ireland with an associated staff of 24 academics, 4 full time researchers, 18 full and part time PhD researchers and MPhil researchers. DEL conducts research across a range of disciplines with key efforts organised into themes of
electrical power
energy policy
low carbon buildings
solar energy
sustainable energy technologies
Electrical Power Research Group

15. Electrical Power Research Group
The Electrical Power Research Group aims to develop a world class energy interface facility
to advance leading research in power quality conditioning and in integration of wind and
solar energy to the network.
The group comprises two principal researchers,
four academics and four PhD research students (
They collaborate with the Power Quality Laboratory at Texas AM University and have established an international research consortium in fuel cell engineering. The fuel cell team has entered into partnership with colleagues from other centres at DIT and is partner to a Leonardo Da Vinci project in fuel cell engineering (

16. Centre for Elastomeric Research
The Centre for Elastomeric Research led by Dr Stephan Jerrams offers FEM modelling and equi-biaxial dynamic testing of hyperelastic and viscoelastic materials (fatigue, swelling, stress softening and relaxation), including magnetorheological elastomers, through their unique DYNAMET system, funded by Enterprise Ireland. This research group comprises principal and advisory researchers, 2 postdoctoral researchers, 3 PhD students and has developed strong collaborations with German Institute of Rubber Technology (DIK), the universities of Dundee, Portsmouth, London, Lyon and Warsaw. (

17. National Institute for Transport Logistic
National Institute for Transport & Logistics (NITL) has establish its expertise in supply chain management (SCM) and logistics throughout a number of research funded projects and close research links with several leading logistics/SCM research organisations, including Heriot-Watt University, University of Hull, Cranfield University
Transport Engineering Research Group, including low noise / low cost solutions for night deliveries, flight related deep venous thrombosis and application of behavioural decision theory to the Irish road freight industry. Members of this group are also involved in a number of EC FP6 projects (BESTUFS, SCILENSE, NICHES, POLIS, Interreg IVB BAPTS) and collaborations with Dublin City Council, SenterNovem Netherlands, Noise Abatement Society UK, Bombardier Aerospace and VENTAC. The project manager, Roisin Byrne and lead researcher, Hugh Finlay, have been recently appointed to the EC experts group on Transport Research (

18. Research Signature Areas Faculty of Engineering
Biomedical Engineering, Assistive Technologies & Health Informatics
DSP: Audio & Speech Processing, Bio-imaging and Computer Vision Systems, Cryptology and Information Security
Sustainable Energy & Transport Systems
Wireless Communications
Engineering Education
Optical Sensing
Characterization of Elastomers and Smart Materials

19. Definition of research
A standard, textbook definition of scientific research is:
Scientific research is the systematic, controlled, empirical and critical investigation of natural phenomena guided by theory and hypotheses about the presumed relations among such phenomena.
(Kerlinger 1986, page 10)
This definition can be simplified to:
Scientific research is asking questions in a systematic way to obtain answers that will be meaningful and can be replicated.

20. Mathematical or/ and numerical modeling
Research is, by its nature, cyclical
Mathematical or/ and numerical modeling
Experiments
Validation
Research is a cyclical process
Paul Leedy, "Practical Research: Planning and Design"

21. Grand challenge problems
Grand challenge problems are areas where the problems are demonstrably hard to solve, suggesting that our capabilities to solve the problem(s) will require improvements of several orders-of-magnitude.
Grand challenge problems are of economic and social importance. Most grand challenges are interdisciplinary in that they substantively consider
1) the inherent complexity of nature and society,
2) the consequent desire to explore basic research questions at the interfaces of disciplines,
3) the need to solve societal problems, and
4) the power of new technologies
(National Academies, Facilitating Interdisciplinary Research, 2004).

22. $25 Million ‘Virgin Earth Challenge’
Sir Richard Branson and Al Gore have set up a new global science and technology prize -? The Virgin Earth Challenge - which will award $25 million to the individual or group who are able to demonstrate a commercially viable design which will remove at least 1 billion tons of atmospheric carbon dioxide per year for at least ten years without harmful effects.  The removal must have long term effects and contribute materially to the stability of the Earth’s climate. 
It is the largest science and technology prize ever offered.
The Board of Electricity Supply Board (ESB) - €4 Billion
Recently, The Board of Electricity Supply Board (ESB) in Ireland approved a Strategic Framework to 2020 that will see major company investment in renewable energy, the halving of its carbon emissions within 12 years, and the achievement of carbon net-zero by Fifty percent of the overall investment package is geared towards investments in our renewable future. €4bn of this will be directly invested in renewable energy projects and €6.5bn will be spent facilitating renewables including smart metering and smart networks.

23. Emerging research signature areas ?
Disruptive Civil Technologies
Six Technologies with Potential Impacts on US
Interests out to 2025
Biogerontechnology
Energy Storage Materials
Biofuels and Bio-Based Chemicals
Clean Coal Technologies
Service Robotics
The Internet of Things

24. "Since we cannot be universal and know all that is to be known of everything, we ought to know a little about everything. For it is far better to know something about everything than to know all about one thing.“ B. Pascal ( )
Can we know all about everything ?
Interdisciplinary research group

25. Filter on the basis of quality (peer review)
Model(s) of research groups/teams ?
Information/ Support
External Research Infrastructure, (Tyndall National Institute, ICHEC)
SMEs – outsourcing
RSU, OGS&R
Filter on the basis of quality (peer review)  
Internal funding: e.g. Abbest, CaBS
Priority research
area
Critical Mass
External funding:
Workshops/ Seminars
5PG
7FP
COST VS
Interdisciplinary PI
Funds
Technical/Administ-rartion Staff
3PD 1T
RFP
UREKA
Proposal
Community Engagement
RESEARCH TEAM
International Collaboration/
Sabbaticals
EU Training Courses/
IUTAM Summer Schools
OUTPUTS
Graduates research experience
Research outputs
Innovation outputs
Visible research strengths
Partnerships with extended knowledge actors & stakeholders
QUALITY
The quality of the outputs in turn impacts on the ability of the Faculty to attract research income

26. PROBLEMS FOR RESEARCH ARE EVERYWHERE !!!
Examples of open problems in computer science
If one-way functions do not exist then public key cryptography is impossible
To what degree can one speed up a computation in various architectures – a single processor, grid, distributed network, etc. ? Amdahl's law ?
What is an optimal unit-execution-time (UET) scheduling algorithm for processors with precedence constraints ?
PROBLEMS FOR RESEARCH ARE EVERYWHERE !!!
Electrical & Electronic & Software Engineering - exciting research fields.
There are many opportunities for innovation, creating new technology, and designing and developing new research prototypes and products, in areas ranging from the most mathematical and theoretical to the most experimental. Researchers are members in a community of scholars and innovators. The research community contributes much that is important and valuable to society, and a career as a researcher can be enormously and personally satisfying.

27. Researcher’s attributes
Are you
curious about the whys and hows of things ?
persistent in your approach ?
an independent thinker and worker ?
creative and innovative ?
disciplined and focused when you need to be ?
You can undertake postgraduate research
YES
The value of a research qualification
Can enhance your job prospects
Allows in-depth study of a particular subject of interest
Enables you to develop highly transferable skills, such as:
autonomous learning and project management
in-depth critical appraisal abilities
well honed analytical and research skills
creativity, problem solving and lateral thinking
the capacity to spot patterns and trends
commercial awareness
After Dr. Gerald Farrell

28. Your career ?

29. Values of the twenty-first century engineer
After A. Pais

30. Values of the twenty-first century engineer
Twenty-first century engineers should be well-rounded, well-balanced individuals who are capable of relating to people from a variety of backgrounds. They should not be driven by monetary reward alone but by the pride, satisfaction and enjoyment that comes from doing things that are particularly useful. Although their day-to-day work might involve solving very specific technical problems, they should be aware that their work is part of a ‘bigger picture’.
In philosophy, the concept of holism encompasses the idea that “the whole is greater than the sum of its parts”. The modern engineer will be able to see connections between seemingly disparate components and integrate them so that their combined value is greater than the sum of the values of the individual components. This ability will be acquired by an accumulated knowledge and creativity developed over time as a result of an interest in not only engineering but also other fields such as arts, science, humanities and commerce.

31. Scientists’ and Engineers’ Job Satisfaction

32. European Union Research Policy – Lisbon Strategy
Building the Knowledge-based Economy in Europe
European Union Research Policy – Lisbon Strategy
DIT Targets for Research and Scholarship by 2010
60 new research posts,
30% of academic staff are research active,
500 peer reviewed papers pa,
600 research students (400 PhD),
50 postdoctoral appointments
‘Building Ireland’s Knowledge Economy’ (2004)
Research
The Report of the Expert Group on Future Skills Needs said that by 2010 we will require an increase in the Irish research population from 10,200 (measured in 2003) to 18,300 (in 2010).
The output of PhDs will rise from 450 per annum in 2002/2003 to 900 per annum in 2013.
The generation of PhD and research degrees as a key for success in knowledge economy !
target for R&D: 2.5% GNP by 2010,
ranking in top six countries in scientific publications and citations,
researchers as proportion of total employment doubling,
a doubling of enterprises performing R&D and of sales/exports from products/processes,
university patenting, spin-out and licensing activity comparable to norms of leading US institutions
Growth
and Jobs
Education
Innovation
The Knowledge-based Economy:
knowledge as a product
knowledge workers

33. European Labour Market for Researchers
A Time of Transition
Labour Intensive,
low value-added activities
Knowledge Intensive,
high value-added activities
After Martin Cronin, Chief Executive, Forfás

34. R&D the new Manufacturing ?

35. Knowledge & Technology Knowledge & Technology
Competing on Knowledge
Research
Converted to
Knowledge & Technology
Innovation
Knowledge & Technology
Converted to
Integrated Value Chain
Innovation/
R&D
Production of
Goods/Services
Sales
&
Marketing
After Martin Cronin, Chief Executive, Forfás

36. Value Added in Manufacturing

37. Value Added in Tradable Services

38. Salaries and Career Progression

39. Destinations after Graduation

42. Guidelines for Contract Researchers Salary Scales 2007

43. Tomorrow’s Skills. Towards a National Skills Strategy

44. Employment in Ireland by Sector 2005-2020

45. The chain-link model of innovation
(C) a central chain of innovation involving the identification of a potential market followed by design and testing of the idea, leading to market entry.
(f) feed-back loops to depict the trial and error nature of the process.
(F) the most important source of feed-back is from testing the idea in the market.
(K) the existing stock of knowledge
(R) research - new knowledge,
(1) & (2) the problem might be solved by reference to the existing stock of knowledge
(3) research undertaken
(4) outcomes of research is uncertain as the problem may be insoluble.
Source: Kline and Rosenberg (1986)

46. The chain-link model of innovation
‘Although the transmission of knowledge is critical to social and economic development, general advancement of knowledge comes through research-based acts of discovery. This is why the research function of the university matters. It is through research that universities add to the shared stock of human knowledge. Research efforts can be problem-directed in their nature, taking as their starting point issues and concerns emerging from everyday life. Research efforts can also be curiosity driven, motivated primarily by the interests of researchers who might gain their inspiration from a variety of questions or puzzles, and who approach their research using concepts and methods, representing the accumulation of knowledge in their given disciplines or fields of inquiry (Strandburg, 2005).’

47. A general model of the research process
Michael Mintrom, Managing the research function of the university: pressures and dilemmas
Journal of Higher Education Policy and Management
Vol. 30, No. 3, August 2008, p. 231–244

48. Options for managing the research function

49. Options for managing the research function

50. Intellectual Property (IP) Policy
The US Constitution is a relatively short document, but protection of discovery and innovation was thought important enough to be included:
“Congress shall have power to promote the progress of science and useful arts, by securing for limited times to authors and inventors the exclusive right to their respective writings and discoveries.
[Article I, section 8]
As Thomas Jefferson, the father of the US patent system put it, “He who receives an idea from me, receives instruction himself without lessening mine, as he who lights his taper at mine, receives light without darkening me”.
Contact details: Tom Flanagan
Head of Commercialisation
DIT Hothouse, Aungier St
P: +353 (1) E:

51. DIT New Intellectual Property Policy
“At DIT we are leading the way with our new IP policy” said President Norton. “It is unique in Ireland and most of Europe. The fact that the creator can own their own IP encourages staff and students to be innovative. It makes DIT an attractive place to work for leading researchers, authors and inventors, and enhances our reputation for excellence and industry relevance”.
In addition to the new policy, DIT set up Hothouse the Innovation and Technology Transfer Centre at DIT, to help inventors and authors protect and commercialise their IP. Tom Flanagan leads the Hothouse team and has successfully negotiated licences for DIT technologies with SONY, Sherman Williams, General Paints, ABB etc and many more are in the pipeline.

52. DIT’s new Intellectual Property (IP) policy
The following table shows the distribution of net revenue received for licences or equity sales made by DIT for IP that is assigned to it:
Where the owner assigns their IP to DIT to commercialise then DIT will return 65% of net proceeds to the inventor, whereas most IP firms will only return 10-20%.
Where IP was developed using substantial DIT resources and is commercialised by the inventor or author, only 10% of Net Revenues will be claimed by DIT.
Inventors can also ask Hothouse to assign back IP that was originally assigned to DIT and in these cases DIT will only claim 10% of any net revenues received.

53. research, technology transfer and company growth
A spin-out company:
research, technology transfer and company growth
Some industrialists believe that academics never deliver what they promise, and some academics believe the objectives of all industrialists is to steal their ideas. Of course, these preconceptions are misconceptions, and the challenge for the technology transfer staff is to help correct the misconceptions. If the intermediary can persuade the academic that he will not allow the industrialist to steal the academic’s ideas, and can persuade the industrialist that this academic does deliver on promises, then, quite often, the antagonists discover the inaccuracy of their initial prejudices. The industrialist finds that the academic is, in fact, quite hard working and does, in fact, deliver. The academic finds that industrialists are, on the whole, honest and often have some very useful resources.

54. research, technology transfer and company growth
A spin-out company:
research, technology transfer and company growth

55. Which Route: Taught ME or MPhil or PhD by Research ?
Taught programmes offer well defined route but less research experience.
MPhil takes months, less well defined but greater independent research experience.
PhD takes 3-4 years, demands not just more time but greater level of originality.
Route depends on aptitude/circumstances; can start out then progress higher.
Which Route: Full-time .V. Part-time?
Part-time research degrees are increasingly popular with engineers in employment
Employers may provide support, but may require lock-in contract
Research may relate to work, but caution may be needed with conflicts relating to timing and IP
Route depends on circumstances and employer support
After Dr. Gerald Farrell

57. Source of Funding DIT internal research funding
1. Abbest PhD Scholarship
2. STRAND I (HEA) – MPhil, PhD
3. Capacity Building Scheme (CaBS) for Strategic Research (old)
4. STRAND III (HEA)
Two of the major routes for external funding are:
Employment as a research assistant by research programmes funded by bodies such as Science Foundation Ireland (SFI), Entreprise Ireland (EI) or EU 7th Framework Programme
Postgraduate stipends under the Embark Programme administered on behalf of the Government by the Irish Research Council for Science, Engineering and Technology (IRCSET)

58. DIT ABBEST PhD Scholarship Programme
aimed at exceptional candidates who have an exciting or innovative idea for Doctoral research
grants €16,000 p.a., plus €2,000 towards research expenses and fees
duration 3.5 years
applicants formulate their own research proposal,
closing date May 2009

59. IRCSET: Postgraduate Research Funding Terms and Conditions
Open to those commencing a research degree for the 1st time in Ireland in the Autumn of the year of application
Qualifications: normally 1st class results, few upper 2nd class honours degree & other factors
PhD funding: 3 years, Masters funding 1 year, extensions are possible
Two calls per year: closing April (up to 150 scholarships ) & July (up to 30 scholarships)
Total Value: €24,000 max per annum
€16,000 goes directly to the student with the remainder available to fund other forms of support such as fees, appropriate travel and other expenses. A social insurance contribution is also provided for, in addition to the above
The exact amount will vary depending on individual circumstances, but for a typical single person with only standard tax credits it is equivalent to approximately €18,900.
Scholars encouraged to participate in appropriate conferences
Scholarship paid to Research Body in quarterly instalments
Review of progress: yearly reports

60. IRCSET: Postgraduate Research Funding The Application Process
Practise writing your personal statement and get this up to scratch Talk it over with your career’s advisors.
Look into project areas that interest you
Approach potential referees
Assessment:
10% Research project: need to show focus, discuss this with potential supervisor
30% Academic Career: your CV
30% Personal Statement: need to show that research is a considered career path,
30% References: get the referees to comment on just how fabulous you are! This will also include your position in class.

61. The Microsoft Research European PhD Scholarship Programme
The programme supports students in computing and those working at the intersection of computing and the sciences.
Areas of interest:
Computational Biology,
Computational Ecology and Environment Science,
Computer-Mediated Living (including Integrated Systems, Sensors and Devices, and Socio-Digital Systems),
Constraint Reasoning, Machine Learning and Perception (including Applied Games, Computer Vision, Information Retrieval, and Machine Learning),
Natural Computation,
Programming Principles and Tools (including Security),
Systems and Networking (including Distributed Systems, Networking, and Operating Systems).

62. The Microsoft Research European PhD Scholarship Programme – Terms and Conditions
Applications will only be accepted through a student’s institution,
Any student who has been accepted by a university in Europe to start a PhD or who will have completed no more than one year of their PhD by October 2007 is eligible.
Two strong letters of recommendation (preferably not from the supervisor)
Each Microsoft scholar will be awarded a bursary of up to 33,000 euros per year up to a maximum of three years,
Awards will be made by 1 July 2007
At the end of the second year of their PhD, some of the scholars may be offered in Microsoft Research’s sole discretion an internship in one of the Microsoft Research laboratories
At the end of the first year of their PhD, scholars will be invited to Microsoft Research Cambridge for a summer school that includes a series of talks of academic interest and a poster session, which will give the scholars the opportunity to present their work to Microsoft researchers and a number of Cambridge academics

63. Research Funding Agencies
The Irish Government pursues a carefully planned, integrated R&D strategy encompassing all of the key elements necessary to achieve world-class R&D. Government agencies have developed a range of new initiatives to encourage pooled projects and attract world-class scientists to carry out research in Ireland. This inclusive way of bringing together industry and academia has led to a boom in research projects. More than 10,000 researchers are working on cutting edge R&D projects in Ireland. Flexible funding mechanisms are available for research by industry and by academics, individually or in collaboration. 
Funding programmes are implemented by the following agencies: 
IDA Ireland
Enterprise Ireland 
Higher Education Authority
Science Foundation Ireland
Environmental Protection Agency
Sustainable Energy Ireland

64. IDA Ireland (Industrial Development Agency)
Incentives for Industry
Ireland’s intellectual property laws provide companies with generous incentives to innovate. The Irish tax system offers huge support to turn brilliant ideas into the finished article. A highly competitive corporate tax rate of 12.5% is a major incentive. No tax is paid on earnings from intellectual property where the underlying R&D work was carried out in Ireland.
Schemes:
Feasibility and Training Support. Support for first time research and development activity
RD&I Support: Support for companies with existing research and development activity
Collaborative R&D projects
The Innovation Partnership Initiative
EU Framework Programme
R&D Tax Credit
Stamp Duty on Intellectual Property

65. Science Foundation Ireland
Industry Research Partnership
Industry involvement with SFI Investigator Programmes SFI strongly encourages research collaboration between SFI funded scientists & engineers and industry. Such interactions can lead to SFI scientists & engineers becoming more informed about industrial priorities and research needs; and lead to industrial collaborators being informed about important new science and engineering research developments in Ireland.

66. R&D within your Enterprise
R & D Funding Enterprise Ireland's R&D funding supports market-led innovation in manufacturing and services companies.
Innovation Vouchers A new initiative to boost innovation in small companies by building links between your company and the Research community.
New to R&D? Through our R&D awareness initiative, we can help companies that have not previously been involved in R&D to get started.
R & D Management We support training on R & D techniques and Innovation under our Innovation Management Initiative Technology Acquisition Acquiring technologies developed by others is an effective way to enhance your company's performance.

67. Commercialisation Fund
We provide support in three phases:
Proof of Concept Phase - €50,000-€100,000 over a 12 month period
Technology Development Phase - €100k to €400k; months.
Business Development Phase - CORD  Under this phase we also offer support through our Enterprise Platform Programme - EPP

68. Innovation Partnerships R&D Support
RESEARCH PROJECT
Maximum Grant €190,000 (EI contribution)
Duration 6 Months - 2 Years
Variable Grant Rate (50% - 75%)
Key Features / Benefits
Dedicated researcher & research facilities
Access to up-to-date science / technology
Duration 6 to 24 months
Skills availability post-project
Reduced R&D costs to company

69. Innovation Partnerships R&D Support
Company
25-50%
6 wks
New Product
or process
Company
Technical
Assessment
90% OK
NRSFB
Funded
Project
Full
Proposal
Innovation
Research
Outline
proposal
Commercial
Assessment
Max €190K EI
grant
Enterprise Ireland
50-75%
Feasibility EI
Assessment
College PI
Max €9K EI grant

70. Planning a grant application
Imagine a proposal that is due on June 5th. A great deal must occur before the application deadline. The hypothetical schedule below for the typical grant proposal assumes a concentration of effort in the final month.
Be prepared to:
During/By:
Think
Outline
Seek advice
Rethink
Write
Prepare a draft budget
Revise
Ask colleagues to review draft
Finalise budget (with research accountant)
Solicit final review by colleagues
Revise and proofread
Submit for internal sign-off
Package
Submit to funding agency
September-December
January
Early February
Mid February
March
April 1-15
April 15-30
May 1-10
May 12-14
May 15-30
June 1-8
June 2
June 4
June 5

71. How to apply for funding ?
Science Foundation Ireland (SFI)
Research Frontiers Programme (RFP)
Objectives:
To support innovative, cutting-edge and internationally competitive research in a broad range of disciplines in Science, Mathematics and Engineering.
To establish a mechanism of looking forward to allow for changes in strategic areas in the future.
To provide a broad base of support to underpin the strategic areas of Biotechnology, Information & Communications Technology, and Sustainable Energy & Energy-Efficient Technologies.
To provide advanced education and training for young researchers in a wide variety of areas.

72. How to manage a funded project ?

73. How to manage a funded project ?
Gantt Chart

74. How to manage a funded project ?
Work package 1:
Project Management and Communication
Duration: months 1-24
Aim: Overall management and communications for the EAOS project
Activities:
Overall management of the research project and its activities
Project communications
Ensure on-time delivery of all project scientific and technical deliverables.
Organise meetings of the project partners as required plenary meetings of the project partners every four months
Co-ordinate activities of the partners in acquiring further funding support for the research
Together with WP6 co-ordinator ensure maximum impact of project outputs by appropriate dissemination.
Milestones & Deliverables:
Milestone:
A successful demonstration of optical sensing in each of the three application areas.
Deliverables:
End of Year 1 report on the project to DIT
Final report on the project to DIT
EAOS workshop organised
Project meetings organised

75. How to manage a funded project ?
Work package 2:
Solutions for Optical Sensing Applications
Duration: months 1-24
Aim: Research to develop application specific optical sensing solutions for Fast Measurement of Low Strain Values, using a common sensor interrogation system
Activities:
Optimisation of the bend loss filter design and characteristics to achieve a high sensitivity to low values of strain
Development of a high-speed interrogation technique for analysis of multiple sensors
Calibration of the sensor interrogation system for operation in a “real world” conditions, separation between temperature and pressure effects, temperature stabilization etc.
Embedding of fibre optic sensors within a working environment for each of the specific applications, e.g., sensor mounting, protection etc.
Milestones & Deliverables:
Milestone:
Optimal bend loss filter specification (optical and mechanical) for high speed, low strain value sensing.
Versatile calibration technique which can deal with a variety of different application areas and sensor conditions
Understanding of the protection requirements for optical sensors in the three different application areas
Reliable application specific techniques for sensor attachment and/or embedding
Deliverables:
A fast and accurate sensor interrogation system which can be adapted to suit the requirements of each of the three named application areas in the EAOS project
Journal and conference publications on fast low strain interrogation of optical sensors (see WP6)
A technical report/guide on the embedding and protection of optical sensors for a range of application areas, as a guide to other users who may wish to employ optical sensing in their applications

76. How to manage a funded project ?
Work package 6:
Dissemination for the EAOS project
Duration: months 1-24
Aim: To disseminate knowledge of the project and its outcomes to a broad audience of fellow academics, students and industry
Activities:
Preparation of joint publications in journals and at conferences
Development of a dedicated web presence for dissemination
Preparation of joint publications in trade and other relevant magazines
Workshop organisation
Milestones & Deliverables:
Milestones:
An interim dissemination report at the end of Year 1
A final dissemination report at the end of the project.
Deliverables:
At least four joint international journal papers and six joint conference papers with high impact factors per year.
Dedicated dissemination web page,
Promotion of the project outcomes on the web sites of the Applied Optoelectronics Centre ( and the Faculty and DIT websites.
Presentation of research reports for DIT and other student research seminars;
Two appropriate articles in industry trade magazines
An article in the Enterprise Ireland publication “Technology Ireland” describing the EAOS project.
Organisation of a EAOS workshop

77. How to manage a funded project ? Gantt Chart
Months 2 4 6 8 10 12 14 16 18 20 22 24
WP1: Project Management and Coordination D4 D1 D3 M1 D2
WP2: Solutions for Optical Sensing Applications M2 M3 M4
WP3: Strain sensing for robotic surgical instruments
WP4: Strain sensing of noise fields
WP5: Strain and Temperature Measurement for Functionally Graded Materials
D1, D2
WP6: Dissemination for the EAOS project D5 D7 D6
D1, D4
WP7: Teaching and Learning Impact of the EAOS project
D1, D2, D3

78. "Aeroplanes are not designed by science, but by art in spite of some pretence and humbug to the contrary. I do not mean to suggest that engineering can do without science, on the contrary, it stands on scientific foundations, but there is a big gap between scientific research and the engineering product which has to be bridged by the art of the engineer “.
- British Engineer to the Royal Aeronautical Society, 1922

79. No to PowerPoint Poisoning
Dr. Marek Rebow,
Head of Research, Faculty of Engineering
Dublin Institute of Technology
Bolton Street, E-Block,
Dublin 1, Ireland
Phone: (0) / 8013
Mobile: (0)
Thank You !!! Questions ?