Irish and French Research Collaboration Stronger Than Ever: Over 300 Franco Irish Projects Now Funded Under Ulysses Programme
Posted: 16 June, 2014
France will be a key partner country for Ireland in applications for funding under the European Union’s €7bn Horizon 2020 Research Funds as Irish researchers are developing joint projects with their counterparts in France on a greater scale than ever before, according to the Irish Research Council.
The Council’s Director, Dr. Eucharia Meehan, pointed out that 304 projects have been funded to date under the Ulysses programme which supports Franco-Irish research initiatives.
“Irish and French researchers have engaged in projects ranging from biodiversity to energy harvesting to equine science.”
The latest phase of the joint Irish Research Council and French Embassy/Campus France Ulysses research funding programme is being launched today – 16th June. The programme is named Ulysses after James Joyce’s famous novel to celebrate the Joycean links between Ireland and France so today’s launch which coincides with Bloomsday is particularly apt. This programme is designed to support new research collaborations between Irish and French researchers.
To mark this year’s launch the French ambassador, Jean-Pierre Thébault, was presented with a book on James Joyce co-edited by Dr. Katherine O’Callaghan, an Irish Research Council Fellow based at the School of English in Trinity College Dublin, and by Dr. Oona Frawley.
Now in its seventeenth year, the Ulysses programme continues to support Irish and French researchers across a range of mutually important areas. Collaborations have often continued long after the Ulysses award has finished, and in many cases lead to further research funding. Successful researchers will each receive up to €2,500 to spend a short period in the other country to carry out their research.
Ulysses is managed (in Ireland) by the Irish Research Council and the French Embassy, and (in France) by Campus France, the French agency for international mobility. Details of the application process can be found here and on www.ambafrance-ie.org/. The closing date for applications is Friday 12th September.
