Leading from the front: SFI’s Frank Gannon

Dick Ahlstrom in the Irish Times this week reminded us that even with the economy tanked and the filleting knife out for virtually every State programme, the science budget has so far remained intact. Frank Gannon, Director General of SFI since 2007, has had no small part to play in this.

"Careful lobbying by Gannon and others has helped keep the Government onside", writes Ahlstrom, "and allowed them to 'hold their nerve' through these difficult times. The highest levels of Government remain committed to the 'smart economy', believing that our engagement with scientific research will help pull us out of recession when the tide finally turns."

Gannon outlined just why we need to remain committed to the smart economy at the launch on March 25th this year of Powering the Smart Economy, SFI Strategy 2009-2013:

"While most of the focus in economic commentaries of late has, understandably, been on the short-term, it is essential that we prepare for the new global environment that will exist after this recession. We need to look closely and critically at how Ireland will then be positioned after the recovery. Ireland will have to be able to win exports by being the location from where new, essential and complex products originate. This can only happen if we give the necessary support, even in these difficult times to our high quality research and development. The realisation of the interdependent objectives set out in the strategy will deliver the basis for a prosperous and sustainable smart economy."

Link to the full Irish Times article
Link to Powering the Smart Economy, SFI Strategy 2009-2013
Link to SFI Press Release, March 25th 2009

SFI and Open Access

From 1 February 2009 Science Foundation Ireland (SFI) joined with other research funders worldwide to mandate that research publications arising in whole or in part from their funding must be lodged in an open access repository as soon as possible (maximum 6 months) after publication. See funder policies here.

The SFI policy
• confirms the freedom of researchers to publish first wherever they feel is the most appropriate.
• allows that the protection of intellectual property arising from the publication takes precedence over open access depositing and indeed over any form of publication.
• recommends that institutional and disciplinary repositories should be used in preference to an author’s own website.
• specifies that the publication to be deposited is to be the publisher’s version, if permitted, or the author’s final version. See publisher permissions here.
• Where a publisher charges an author to enable open access, SFI will allow this as an Eligible Cost and it should be charged against the Miscellaneous budget line. See publisher charges here.

Because authors prefer the publisher copy to the ‘author’s own’ version allowed by most publishers, there is a natural reluctance to lodge work in an open access repository. However, policies like the one above make the necessity for some culture shifts in interactions between authors, publishers and librarians clear.

UL researchers can meet the SFI requirement by lodging their work in the University of Limerick Institutional Repository (ULIR).