ERC visit to Dublin and Belfast

Dublin

In addition to the Council's plenary meeting, Research Ireland hosted an event to mark the visit of the ERC, bringing together leading voices from Ireland's research community, political leaders and industry. Taoiseach Micheál Martin gave a keynote speech, stressing that the history of science and advanced research teaches us that we can take nothing for granted: "We have to maintain a permanent commitment to funding and supporting genuinely cutting-edge researchers and ideas." He noted that such research will expand our knowledge and our ability to shape our future "rather than just respond to developments elsewhere". In the context of the Irish EU Presidency and the negotiations on the EU long term budget, the Taoiseach underscored that "Investing in research and innovation and delivering an ambitious Horizon Europe programme is an important objective. Europe must support excellence in frontier research." He pointed to the "unique and essential role of the European Research Council in our research and innovation ecosystem" noting that the ERC has successfully empowered researchers in every part of our Union. Warning of the risk of Europe falling behind globally, he said that Europe needs to "reassert its global credentials as a powerhouse of frontier scientific and scholarly endeavour".

Minister for Further and Higher Education, Research, Innovation and Science James Lawless was another keynote speaker and industry leaders from Google Ireland, Roche and the Kerry Group took part. From the ERC, President Maria Leptin and two Scientific Council members - Luke O'Neill and Nobel laureate Emmanuelle Charpentier - participated, and a range of grantees based in Ireland presented their research. The ERC was also hosted at the University College Dublin.

On the eve of the plenary, Maria Leptin was conferred with the Trinity European Laureate Award at a ceremony in the Trinity Long Room Hub, in "recognition of her outstanding contributions to developmental biology, her distinguished leadership in European science, her stewardship of the European Research Council, and her unwavering commitment to the advancement of research and knowledge".

Belfast

The plenary continued in Belfast in Northern Ireland where an event was hosted at Queens University with the research community and political representatives including Northern Ireland's Minister for Agriculture, Environment and Rural Affairs, Andrew Muir MLA, and the UK Government's Chief Scientific Adviser at the Department for Science, Innovation and Technology (DSIT), Professor Chris Johnson. Presentations by ERC grantees were a core part of the event and President Leptin gave a keynote speech. An evening event at Queens University featured Emmanuelle Charpentier, alongside Teresa Lambe OBE, in a fireside conversation.