Advancing Humanities and Social Sciences Research in Ireland

In contrast, the percentage share of total HSS HERD drawn from other sources
including the EU, ‘other and own’, and Irish business sources declined. It may be that
HSS researchers chose to prioritise applications for domestic rather than EU funding
schemes during this period given the significant growth in domestic- and nationallevel
funding sources. Alternatively, there is some evidence that the high level of
administration involved in the application requirements and the complexity of the
EU collaboration mechanisms may have acted as barriers to HSS researchers’
participation (IRCHSS 2005).
However, as Table 3 also shows, investment in HSS R&D by direct government
funding sources (i.e. funding channelled through targeted research initiatives such as
the PRTLI) doubled between 1998 and 2004.
Table 4 provides an overview of direct government funding for HSS R&D by source
for the period 1998–2005 (see also Chart 3). The increase in direct government
funding sources of HSS HERD was channelled largely through targeted initiatives
such as the:
• PRTLI: 46.1m was allocated to the HSS across Cycles 1 to 3, funding, for
example, twelve research programmes and centres in the HSS (HEA 2004a);
• IRCHSS: the various IRCHSS research initiatives and schemes since 1999 have
seen 34.6m allocated in support of HSS research;
• Awards made to specific HSS research projects by government agencies and
bodies such as the Health Research Board (HRB) (9.8m allocated in support of
HSS research), Teagasc (13.4m) and ‘other’ HEA research programmes.
IRCHSS is the principal HSS funding agency in terms of its percentage allocation
(at 100 per cent) to the HSS, followed by ‘other’ HEA awards (12 per cent), the
HRB (8.2 per cent), the PRTLI (8 per cent) and Teagasc (3.9 per cent).
Most of the increased investment channelled through direct government sources of
funding is allocated to HSS recurrent expenditure.
Only two of the direct government-funders of HSS HERD—the HRB and the PRTLI—
allowed for capital expenditure and each allocated less than a third of their HSS
HERD share to capital expenditure.
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