Science Spin March 2008 : Sponsored Content - Higher Education Authority

Institutes of Technology and cutting edge research

By Marie-Catherine Mousseau

Interdisciplinary research in Athlone

No doubt ITs have moved a long way from their original brief. "The past 15 years have seen an enormous rapid change, and different colleges have developed in different ways," Margaret Franklin, senior lecturer in the Athlone Institute of Technology (AIT), explains. She describes how Athlone was one of the first 5 colleges to be founded. Like the 9 others founded afterwards, they have responded to the needs of a rapidly evolving knowledge-based society and started to engage in university-level research.

"There are a number of strands of research being conducted here, much of it interdisciplinary," Margaret says. Dr Clement Higginbotham, director of one of the two research centres in AIT, insists on the originality of their approach: "Athlone IT has traditionally been in the top three ITs in the country in terms of research. Our interdisciplinary research, in general, distinguishes us from a number of other ITs. We are absolutely unique in our polymer and toxicological research, and the marriage between polymer technology in the School of Engineering, and toxicology in the School of Science, which lead to the formation of the CBBR, is also unique."

Both Margaret and Clem nevertheless agree that in Athlone there is still not enough staff doing research, and no motivation for their involvement in research. "For historical reasons, the full time teaching load at the Institutes of Technology is 16 class contact hours per week for a lecturer," she says. They are also expected to 'volunteer' to extra-curricular activities such as Science Week and promotion of science generally. "All of this takes a lot of time and you have to be very committed to be engaged in research," she says.

New GRID computing in Tallaght

Still, many are. Specialising in astrophysics, Kevin Nolan is a permanent lecturer in physics for IT Tallaght (ITTD) and with Dr Eugene Hickey he is also initiating a new research group in 'GRID Computing', which involves using computers connected around the world as a powerful research tool.
Of course, a key factor in developing a research project successfully is money. Kevin indicates that for their GRID Computing project they were awarded the first Strand 1 HEA grant in 2007. Overall, "ITTD carries out a range of multi-million Euro projects across various biological and chemical sectors that ensure that ITTD is shooting far above its weight in terms of research success and ambition", he says. ITTD's key interests include research on medical devices, combating difficult and antimicrobial resistant pathogens, and translational molecular cell biology. "Our recent success was the award of over 9 million euro from PRTLI,*" Kevin notes.

Strategic Research Clusters in Cork

The Cork Institute of Technology (CIT) benefits on an even bigger scale. Dr Niall Smith, Head of Research in CIT, indicates that last year they received 27M euros in research funding, including 18M from PRTLI. That is everything they had dreamed of. The money has been channelled into three main areas of research - namely wireless, photonics and biopharmachem. "We call them strategic research clusters as their core activity is supported by several teams within the institute," Niall explains. For instance, the teams involved in the wireless research cluster are interested in how wireless technology can improve our interaction with the environment. They particularly focus on 'intelligent buildings' that are more responsive to our needs - i.e. switching on and off devices such as central heating or TV automatically. "This adaptative wireless research, including 11 other partners with a total of €30.6M invested, is the second largest project funded by PRTLI," Niall indicates.

Waterford one of the largest ICT research groups

In the Waterford Institute of Technology (WIT), the story is similar. Dr Willy Donnelly is head of Research and Innovation for the WIT, and he is also the director of the Telecommunications Software and Systems Group (TSSG). "With approx 130 staff, it is one of the largest ICT research groups in Ireland", he says.
They also focus on wireless technology, but less on hardware and more on the communication aspect itself. "The area of wireless communications is particularly challenging and we are at the forefront of delivery solutions both at the network and service level," Willy says. "We are the major academic participant in the European framework programme," he continues, explaining how they have developed strong partnerships with major European companies and academia and how he enjoys working with some of the world leaders in this area.

No doubt the Waterford Institute, like the Cork Institute, is committed to research. "Our range of research activity covers engineering, life science, humanities, business and health science," Willy says. And contrary to many other institutes, it benefits from its privileged position of being the only third level institute in the South. "We are one of the most active with DIT and CIT. In the ITs, we would account for about 50% of all postgraduate students doing research (this does not include DIT)," says Willy.

Blurring frontiers

Does all this mean that research in the ITs becomes more and more similar to what's being done in universities? Due to their historical origin, ITs would still be expected to engage more in applied research. And all agree that they would do less 'blue sky' type of activity (i.e. basic research) in the institutes as compared to their university counterparts.

However, it seems that the debate of basic vs. applied research is lessening. "People sometimes talk about the ITs focusing on applied and the universities on more basic research. However this demarcation is no longer appropriate and in fact the type of research conducted in the ITs covers all aspects of research," Willy says.
"We really talk about strategic research rather than applied research," says Niall. "We have researchers who know the subject area at a fundamental level. They develop research lines and then they spin out that knowledge to the interface centres to help industry." "It's a continuum of activity," he concludes.
Even the drive for publication is more and more similar to what's happening in the universities, "simply because we all have to compete for funding," says Willy, indicating that their number of journal publications has increased by 50 per cent every year over the past 4 years.
Niall is very optimistic about this evolution: "what we have benefited from most in recent years is international peer reviews," he says. "That's been the critical thing that has allowed, for example us in CIT, to move up to a stage where we can bring in 27 million euros." Because, as he points out, in the international arena, the distinction between ITs and universities doesn't count. "The key factor is parity of esteem," he concludes.
And the truth is that "the best research in ITs compares with that conducted in Universities," Willy says.

To be or not to be

The fact nevertheless remains that entrenched structures are still shaping research conducted in ITs. As Willy points out, their research is more recent, so, the difference is in scale and investment. Also, the lack of career paths -- for instance in ITs there are no professorships -- may be a problem in attracting leading experts who might fear their status is not being recognised.

However, ITs may also have some interest in retaining their specificity -- and some very good aspects. Smaller in size they may be more flexible and more prompt in making decisions. Human scale benefits students as well. "IT students get 38 contact hours per week (hours where they can interact with teachers)," says Willy, a contact time that according to him can be as low as 5 to 6 hours in some universities. And, last but not least, their traditional emphasis on the applicability of the research to the consumer/stakeholders makes them very attractive to industries.

Firstly, ITs attract industries to train their staff regionally. "Because of our flexibility we are able to customise some master programmes for them," Willy says. But he indicates that there is more than that. The scope encompasses joint projects such as innovation partnerships, new product developments and company spinouts, as well as joint research activity through various funding. "The links with industry are crucial," he concludes.

Clem's experience in Athlone is similar: "I am involved in research projects with numerous companies". He adds: "Collaboration with industry is the strength of the ITs. Industry benefits enormously from collaborative research with Athlone IT as they have 'hands-on' experience of the research project and most industries that I collaborate with are involved very heavily. This doesn't happen in the universities."

"In CIT, we have three new centres whose specific remit is to interface between the research and industry," says Niall. He adds: "we all have to help industry, because we're such a small country we can't afford generating knowledge just for the sake of it". We don't have an economy of that scale."

He also points out that CIT has an innovation centre allowing businesses to rent a place to operate. This is to double in size and to be located next to some of their research buildings, creating as he puts it 'an industrial research park area with high activity of both industries and researchers'. "What's very useful are those 'coffee morning chats' where you have researchers interacting in an ad hoc manner, brainstorming and coming up with new creative ideas."

Niall is optimistic about IT research potential: "what we have in abundance here is intellectual gold, what we need now is sufficient infrastructure -- better labs, better buildings." He adds: "That's why funding like PRTLI is critical for our research development in CIT - it's the only way we can get sufficient infrastructure to make good use of that intellectual gold."

To be or not to be a university is, or soon may be, a debate for many. But at the end of the day, "we're all trying to move towards supporting the national development plan." Niall notes. What Irish society needs now is more 4th level education, more masters and PhDs - to support the economy and ultimately, as he puts it, "to move towards a better life for the population in this country."

"And what the institutes are very good at is evolving to respond to the needs of society," Willy concludes.