OECD Survey on the STI policy responses to Covid-19

 

Ireland


Updated on: 2020-03-30

Response
Q1A. What arrangements, if any, do you have in place to ensure scientific advice informs national policy and decision making in relation to Covid-19? Ireland’s Chief Scientific Advisor, Professor Mark Ferguson, is participating in a research sub-committee of Ireland’s National Public Health Emergency Team (NPHET). There are plans to use this group as part of the assessment of the funding calls described elsewhere in this survey, so the projects funded are informed by national priorities and results will feedback into it.
Q1B. In what ways, if any, are you coordinating on Covid-19 STI responses at international level? Science Foundation Ireland's (SFI) C19 information portal is tracking relevant international Covid-19 STI responses in order to avoid duplication of effort.

SFI are the national contact point for Ireland on various international working groups, for example, OECD (High risk high gain research of the OECD's Global Science Forum), the Small Advanced Open Economies Initiative, Global Research Council Governing Board, the EU ELIXIR (ESFRI Research Infrastructure for life science data), and are coordinating efforts across these and various other channels.

SFI is in close contact with its international research funding partners such as the National Science Foundation (NSF) in the US to share information.

The Irish Chief Scientific Advisor, Professor Mark Ferguson, shares information with international Chief Scientific Advisors, including that of the UK, Prof. Patrick Vallance.

Prof. Ferguson’s role as chair of the European Innovation Council (EIC) will also support coordination of Covid-19 STI responses; the EIC has launched a call.

Q2.Do you have dedicated arrangements in place for communicating science advice and for refuting misleading information to the public on Covid-19? Science Foundation Ireland is not aware of a formal arrangement for this. We are communicating information from pre-agreed sources such as the Health Service Executive, Health Protection Surveillance Centre, the European Centre for Disease Prevention and Control, and WHO.
Q3. What new STI policy measures, if any, is your country taking to respond specifically to the Covid-19 crisis? Research and Innovation, in health, academia and industry, have a significant role to play in the national and global response to COVID-19. Consequently, the Government’s main research and innovation agencies have developed a coordinated Rapid Response Research and Innovation programme to help mitigate and manage the COVID-19 pandemic by unlocking the potential of Irish based researchers and innovators to join the global efforts. This coordinated response is comprised of two complementary strands. Having two focus areas allows for sufficient specialisation and coordination while optimising available resources.

(1) The first focus area targets Health services research; Patient-oriented and clinical research; and Population health research to COVID-19. This is led by the Heath Research Board (HRB) and the Irish Research Council (IRC) and details of the call can be found here: https://www.hrb.ie/funding/funding-schem...

(2) The second focus area is an agile and adaptive initiative to combine the capabilities of industry and academia in the development of innovative solutions that can have a rapid demonstrable impact on the current COVID-19 crisis in Ireland, including but going beyond the health response to areas such as essential services and supply chains. This is led by Science Foundation Ireland (SFI), Enterprise Ireland and IDA Ireland and details of the call can be found here: https://www.sfi.ie/funding/funding-calls...


Q4A. At national level, what mechanisms are you developing or relying upon to bring together different STI actors (researchers, industry, government, health sector, foundations, etc.) to effectively collaborate on responses to Covid-19? Several of the relevant agencies have initiatives in place to connect different actors. One part of Science Foundation Ireland’s (SFI's) 5 point plan for C19 is to connect the different stakeholders. The Health Innovation Hub Ireland has a portal in place to gather information and redirect actors to the right place. Furthermore:

• The two funding schemes mentioned in question 3 (i.e. the Rapid Response Research and Innovation programme) will bring together different STI actors. As part of the SFI, Enterprise Ireland and IDA Ireland call, there is a call to action to come forward: (i) If you have identified a problem where you consider that RD&I could have impact and would like this problem to be highlighted to innovators and researchers, who may be able to advance a solution; and (ii) If you are currently working in an organisation (e.g. in industry, public service, research performing organisation etc.) on a solution that could generate significant impact and strengthen Ireland’s response to the current crisis, and you need to be connected with research experts, government departments or agencies in Ireland that may be able to assist. Here the funders will play a facilitation role in making the connections within Ireland to develop the solutions required.

• SFI are also developing plans, using existing online platforms, to identify and curate the challenges where research can play a role in solving. These will then feedback into SFI’s existing activities e.g. the Funding Call.

• SFI have also developed a portal of information which will be used to facilitate and encourage collaborations across Ireland and internationally.

Q4B. At international level, what mechanisms are you developing or relying upon to bring together different STI actors (researchers, industry, government, health sector, foundations, etc.) to effectively collaborate on responses to Covid-19? There are no formal international level initiatives at the present time.

Science Foundation Ireland's C19 information portal is tracking relevant international Covid-19 STI responses in order to avoid duplication of effort, to identify areas where Ireland could join international efforts and / or implement similar responses to other countries that are needed in Ireland also.
Q5. What novel approaches, if any, is your country using to address the coronavirus crisis (e.g. use of machine learning, open science initiatives boosting access and sharing of data and research results, development and use of prediction models, etc.)? Science Foundation Ireland (SFI) expects some of these novel approaches to be deployed as a result of the two funding calls mentioned in question 3.

SFI is a signatory to https://wellcome.ac.uk/press-release/sha....

OECD Secretariat additions (30 March 2020):
CeADAR, Ireland’s National Centre for Applied Data Analytics and Machine Intelligence, is offering its AI expertise to help companies, government agencies, medical centres and research charities develop AI tools to help track the virus and monitor compliance of the general public. The centre can help organisations with large data sets to apply machine learning techniques.

Q6A. What impact on the STI system do you anticipate in the short-, medium- and long-term, and what measures are you implementing to address those? Science Foundation Ireland, the Health Research Board, and the Irish Research Council released a statement (https://www.sfi.ie/research-news/news/co...) outlining the short-term approach to the STI system: a pragmatic approach will be taken which prioritises the safety and wellbeing of the research teams and the agency staff.

Other activity has to-date focused on rapid response. Longer term impacts will be considered and addressed in the future.
Q6B. Is support of the STI system part of planned stimulus packages aimed at supporting the economy? Not at present.
Q7. Is there anything else regarding the STI policy response to Covid-19 in your country you would like to mention? No observations.