Research Ireland — Taighde Éireann in Irish — is Ireland’s national research and innovation funding agency. It was formed on 1 August 2024 by amalgamating Science Foundation Ireland (SFI) and the Irish Research Council (IRC) into a single body, under the Research and Innovation Act 2024. For researchers, institutions, and international partners who dealt with SFI or the IRC separately, Research Ireland is now the single point of contact for both the large-scale, industry-linked science funding SFI used to administer and the postgraduate/postdoctoral scholarship and fellowship schemes the IRC used to run. This guide covers the merger itself, the resulting agency’s structure and funding portfolio, and practical guidance for anyone navigating the transition from the old SFI/IRC branding.
The 2024 merger: from SFI and the IRC to Research Ireland
The Irish government signalled its intention to merge SFI and the IRC in November 2023, under the Department of Further and Higher Education, Research, Innovation and Science (DFHERIS). The legislative basis followed as the Research and Innovation Act 2024, enacted mid-2024, which established Taighde Éireann – Research Ireland as the statutory successor body to both agencies and set out its functions and governance.
The transition took effect over a short, defined window: the Irish Research Council was formally dissolved on 31 July 2024, and Research Ireland became operational as a single agency the following day, 1 August 2024. Science Foundation Ireland’s functions transferred into the same new body at the same point. There was no interim period in which the two predecessor agencies and the new one operated in parallel – the switch was a defined statutory cutover, not a gradual rebrand.
The rationale given for the merger was to remove the historical split between SFI’s remit (large-scale, often industry-co-funded science and engineering research, concentrated in STEM disciplines) and the IRC’s remit (individual scholarships and fellowships open to researchers across all disciplines, including arts, humanities, and social sciences) – consolidating both under one agency with a single strategy, a single set of corporate functions, and one point of contact for funding across the full disciplinary range and the full researcher career stage, from postgraduate through established investigator.
What Research Ireland is now: mission and structure
Research Ireland describes its role as building internationally competitive research and innovation capability for Ireland, funding research and innovation across all disciplines rather than the STEM-weighted remit SFI held on its own. As a statutory agency under the Research and Innovation Act 2024, it reports to DFHERIS and is Ireland’s primary channel for competitively awarded public research funding, sitting alongside – and in some programmes, directly co-funding with – Ireland’s participation in EU frameworks such as Horizon Europe (see CASRAI’s Horizon Europe overview for how EU-level funding fits alongside national agencies like this one).
Structurally, this is the same “umbrella agency consolidating previously separate funding bodies” pattern research administrators will recognise from other systems – UK Research and Innovation (UKRI) unified nine previously separate UK research councils and innovation bodies in 2018 in a broadly analogous move (see CASRAI’s guide to how UKRI’s nine councils fit together). The practical implication is the same in both cases: “Research Ireland funding” is not one scheme, it is a portfolio inherited from two agencies with different histories, application systems, and reviewer pools, now administered under one strategy and one brand.
The funding portfolio: what Research Ireland actually funds
Because Research Ireland is the amalgamation of SFI and the IRC, its portfolio spans two distinct funding traditions that a researcher should expect to keep encountering as separate scheme types even though both now sit under the same agency.
Former-SFI-style programmes: large-scale, STEM-weighted, often industry-linked
- Research centres – large, multi-institution, often industry-co-funded centres (the direct continuation of the SFI Research Centres model) concentrated in strategically prioritised technology and science areas.
- Investigator-led discovery/frontier research programmes – funding for established or early-to-mid-career researchers to pursue independent, curiosity-driven research programmes, in the tradition of SFI’s Frontiers for the Future and Career Development Award strands.
- Industry-academia partnership funding – co-funded schemes that pair academic research groups with industry partners, continuing SFI’s traditional emphasis on translating research into economic impact.
Former-IRC-style programmes: individual scholarships and fellowships, all disciplines
- Government of Ireland Postgraduate Scholarship – individual funding for PhD/research master’s candidates across all disciplines, continuing under the merged agency.
- Government of Ireland Postdoctoral Fellowship – individual fellowship funding for early-career postdoctoral researchers.
- Additional IRC-heritage schemes (collaborative/enterprise-partnership awards, laureate-style awards for ambitious early-stage projects, and new-investigator seed funding) that historically operated under IRC branding and continue to operate, in some cases under updated Research Ireland naming.
Exact current scheme names, eligibility, and deadlines change year to year and should always be checked directly against researchireland.ie’s live funding-opportunities listing rather than assumed from historical SFI/IRC documentation. This page covers the merged agency as a whole; IRC-heritage scholarship and fellowship mechanics in more operational depth are a separate, narrower topic than this overview.
International and cross-border funding partnerships
Research Ireland also administers a set of bilateral and multilateral partnership programmes that predate and postdate the merger, including joint funding arrangements with counterpart agencies abroad – for example the US-Ireland R&D Partnership Programme (a joint initiative with US and Northern Ireland funding bodies) and joint calls with UK research councils such as EPSRC. It also runs targeted support programmes such as a supplemental grant scheme for displaced researchers. For an international funder or a researcher relocating to or from Ireland, these cross-border programmes are often the most relevant entry point, and they sit administratively inside Research Ireland rather than as a separate agency.
Navigating the SFI/IRC-to-Research-Ireland transition
Researchers, institutions, and grants offices who last engaged with Irish national funding before August 2024 should expect the following practical changes:
- Old URLs – sfi.ie and research.ie content has been migrated or is being migrated to researchireland.ie; if a bookmarked SFI or IRC page no longer resolves as expected, search researchireland.ie directly rather than assuming the scheme has been discontinued.
- Grant continuity – awards made under SFI or the IRC before the merger did not lapse or require re-application; the statutory transfer of functions under the Research and Innovation Act 2024 was designed to carry existing grant agreements, reporting obligations, and payment schedules across to Research Ireland as the successor body.
- Scheme names – some legacy SFI/IRC scheme names persist unchanged, others have been folded into new Research Ireland-branded programme names as part of the strategic consolidation. Do not assume a scheme has closed just because its old SFI/IRC name no longer appears – check for a renamed successor before concluding it’s gone.
- Correspondence and systems – application and grant-management portals previously run separately by SFI and the IRC are being consolidated under Research Ireland; institutional grants offices should confirm current submission systems directly with Research Ireland rather than relying on pre-2024 guidance.
- Branding in publications and acknowledgements – researchers still finishing out SFI- or IRC-funded projects should check current Research Ireland guidance on funder acknowledgement wording, since the correct acknowledgement text is likely to have changed even where the underlying grant has not.
Why this matters for research administrators and international collaborators
For a research administrator outside Ireland assessing a collaboration, subaward, or co-funding arrangement involving an Irish partner institution, the practical takeaway is straightforward: treat “Research Ireland,” “Science Foundation Ireland,” and the “Irish Research Council” as referring to the same statutory agency going forward, with the latter two now historical names for funding streams that continue under the merged body. Due diligence, funder-compliance checks, and acknowledgement language should reference Research Ireland as the current legal entity, while historical grant records correctly retain the original SFI or IRC name under which the award was made.
Frequently asked questions
Is Research Ireland the same organisation as Science Foundation Ireland?
Not exactly the same organisation, but its direct statutory successor for SFI’s functions. SFI was dissolved and its remit transferred into Research Ireland as part of the same 2024 merger that also absorbed the Irish Research Council.
Does the Irish Research Council still exist?
Not as a separate legal entity. The Irish Research Council was formally dissolved on 31 July 2024. IRC-branded funding schemes (such as the Government of Ireland Postgraduate Scholarship and Postdoctoral Fellowship) continue to operate, but are now administered by Research Ireland.
What does “Taighde Éireann” mean?
Taighde Éireann is the Irish-language form of the agency’s name, used alongside “Research Ireland” as the agency’s official bilingual title, in keeping with standard practice for Irish state bodies.
Do existing SFI or IRC grants need to be re-applied for under Research Ireland?
No. Grant agreements made under SFI or the IRC before the August 2024 merger transferred to Research Ireland as the successor body; researchers should continue reporting and drawing down funds under their existing award terms unless Research Ireland communicates otherwise.
What is the legislative basis for the merger?
The Research and Innovation Act 2024, which established Taighde Éireann – Research Ireland as a statutory body and set out its functions, succeeding both Science Foundation Ireland and the Irish Research Council.
