Our members Limerick Institute of Technology (LIT) and Athlone Institute of Technology (AIT) have been awarded €1 million funding for their participation in the Regional University Network – European University (RUN-EU) initiative.

This represents another significant recognition of the potential of RUN-EU’s mission, values and work, and emphasises the project’s importance in ensuring Europe’s capacity to deal with the most urgent societal challenges.

The awards were determined based on an evaluation of 21 Impact Case Studies submitted by higher education institutions (HEIs) to the Irish Higher Education Authority (HEA) in March 2021.

The Irish Minister for Higher Education, Research, Innovation and Science, Simon Harris, said the awarded institutions are ‘making a positive and significant impact on Irish society, in areas such as inclusion and gender equality, leadership and sustainability, and are helping create an Ireland that is progressive, and one in which every person has the same opportunities to reach their potential’.

Speaking about the funding, Vice-President for Research Development and Innovation and RUN-EU project leader at LIT, Dr Liam Brown, said: ‘We very much welcome the announcement made by Minister Harris today. This funding will allow us to further develop partnerships between the RUN-EU consortium partners in delivering the project mission’.

The RUN-EU director at AIT, Jane Burns, and the director of the AIT – LIT Consortium TU project, Dr Niall Seery, co-authors of the RUN-EU case study, also welcomed the funding and said it was indicative of the project’s value and what could be achieved.

On 1 October, LIT and AIT will merge to become the new Technological University of the Shannon.