A number of female science and engineering researchers are to benefit from a €4.8 million investment programme meant to encourage more women to take up research posts.
The investment, which will be channelled through two programmes run by Science Foundation Ireland (SFI), was announced yesterday by the junior Minister for Trade and Commerce, Michael Ahern.
Of the total, €4.3 million will go to the SFI Principal Investigator Career Advancement Award (Pica), which assists academics undertaking research following maternity, adoptive, carers' or parental leave.
A total of 10 women have been selected to benefit from the three-year Pica programme.
The remainder of the investment will go to University of Limerick, University College Cork and Trinity College Dublin under the SFI Institute Development Award. It will be used to increase the number of women involved in "internationally competitive research" and "change the current research culture" to encourage more women to take part.
The investment comes after the latest report from the European Commission's Women in Science and Technology expert group showed that only 18 per cent of researchers in the private sector and 35 per cent in the public sector are women.