The Programme for Research in Third-Level Institutions (PRTLI) was an
Irish Government
The Government of Ireland ( ga, Rialtas na hÉireann) is the cabinet that exercises executive authority in Ireland.
The Constitution of Ireland vests executive authority in a government which is headed by the , the head of government. The gover ...
programme that provided integrated financial support for research. It was administered by the
Higher Education Authority
__NOTOC__
The Higher Education Authority (HEA), officially An tÚdarás um Ard-Oideachas, is the statutory body providing policy advice for higher education in Ireland.
Description and functions
The HEA was established under the Higher Educat ...
(HEA).
History and funding
The programme was launched in 1998, a "quantum leap to help create a
knowledge economy" attributed to the vision of Irish-American businessman
Chuck Feeney, founding chair of
Atlantic Philanthropies. Atlantic and the government developed the plan for the funding model,
[ and the first funding under the scheme was awarded in 1999.][ There were thereafter five cycles of funding, with the fifth commencing in 2010.]European Regional Development Fund
The European Regional Development Fund (ERDF) is one of the European Structural and Investment Funds allocated by the European Union. Its purpose is to transfer money from richer regions (not countries), and invest it in the infrastructure and s ...
, and with some private sponsorship from philanthropic organisations,[ including Atlantic Philanthropies.][
The allocation of funding under PRTLI Cycle 4 commenced in 2007.]higher education
Higher education is tertiary education leading to award of an academic degree. Higher education, also called post-secondary education, third-level or tertiary education, is an optional final stage of formal learning that occurs after comple ...
institutions. This funding provided for workspace and researcher funding.
Cycle 5 of PRTLI funding was announced in 2010, involving €277m of state expenditure, and a further €59m of private investment.[ Through the five cycles, Atlantic contributed €178 million, which was around 16 per cent of the more than €1.1 billion funding to 2015.][
Cycle 5 was completed by May 2018, when there was an allocation of an additional €14.3m to PRTLI, to be used in part to help pay off outstanding bills for Cycle 5 projects. The successor to PRTLI, intended to support new investment in research infrastructure, was then being scoped and planned by "Innovation 2020", a new government strategy for research and innovation, but its form had not yet been decided.][
By 2021, PRTLI was apparently no longer operational, but was regarded as having been successful.
]
Description
PRTLI was a programme run by the Irish Government that provided integrated financial support for research for institutional strategies, programmes and infrastructure and ensured that institutions had the capacity and incentives to formulate and implement research strategies, which would give them critical mass and world level capacity in key areas of research. The programme supported research
Research is " creative and systematic work undertaken to increase the stock of knowledge". It involves the collection, organization and analysis of evidence to increase understanding of a topic, characterized by a particular attentiveness ...
in humanities
Humanities are academic disciplines that study aspects of human society and culture. In the Renaissance, the term contrasted with divinity and referred to what is now called classics, the main area of secular study in universities at the t ...
, science
Science is a systematic endeavor that Scientific method, builds and organizes knowledge in the form of Testability, testable explanations and predictions about the universe.
Science may be as old as the human species, and some of the earli ...
, technology
Technology is the application of knowledge to reach practical goals in a specifiable and Reproducibility, reproducible way. The word ''technology'' may also mean the product of such an endeavor. The use of technology is widely prevalent in me ...
and social sciences
Social science is one of the branches of science, devoted to the study of societies and the relationships among individuals within those societies. The term was formerly used to refer to the field of sociology, the original "science of so ...
, such as business and law
Law is a set of rules that are created and are enforceable by social or governmental institutions to regulate behavior,Robertson, ''Crimes against humanity'', 90. with its precise definition a matter of longstanding debate. It has been vario ...
.[
It was managed by the HEA on behalf of the Minister for Education and Science and the Government.][
]
Objectives
In general the objectives of the programme were:[
]
Applications
The compilation of the data for AlgaeBase
AlgaeBase is a global species database of information on all groups of algae, both marine and freshwater, as well as sea-grass.
History
AlgaeBase began in March 1996, founded by Michael Guiry. Text was copied from this source, which is avail ...
, a global database of algae species, was funded by PRTLI 2, 3 and 4 programmes, to the Ryan Institute at the National University of Ireland.
Cycle 3 funded the Biosolids Research Programme at Sligo Institute of Technology.[
]
Impact and legacy
A 2004 assessment concluded that "there is clear evidence that PRTLI has changed institutional thinking and has brought about an
extraordinary transformation in the way third level institutions undertake research".[
Don Thornhill, former secretary general of the Department of Education and Science (1993-1998) and former chair of the HEA (1998-2005), later wrote:][
]
References
{{DEFAULTSORT:Programme For Research In Third Level Institutions
Educational organisations based in Ireland
1998 establishments in Ireland