5,000 submissions received from public about the future direction of research in Ireland

First of its kind Government campaign ‘Creating Our Future’ enters final month.

Creating Our Future, the Government-led campaign on the future of research in Ireland, has published preliminary submission data from just over 5,000 ideas sourced from the public. 

Dubbed Ireland’s Biggest Brainstorm, the campaign has now entered its final month for receiving submissions from the public. 

The data includes a county leaderboard and general demographics of participants so far. 

It also includes examples of the types of submissions received, as well as the Irish public’s leading research concerns.  

The campaign has received 5,000 submissions so far and aims to secure 10,000 by the closing date of 30^th November 2021. 

The submissions received to date have come from members of the general public submitting both directly on the campaign website or through engagement with the Creating Our Future Team. Creating Our Future travelled to every county in Ireland with a roadshow in October.  

All the ideas/suggestions received are compiled, filtered, and categorised by independent experts from a broad range of backgrounds.  

The submissions received will then form a report for Government which will inform current and future research. 

Submission data to date; 

Sligo is well ahead of the rest of the country in terms of submissions per capita, followed by Carlow, Clare, Kerry and Longford.

Submissions that fall under the health and wellbeing topic are most common, with environment, education, and social rights also prominent. 

Dementia, autism, fertility, recycling, wastewater, racism, and equality are some of the recurring common areas of focus. 

The 30–39-year-old age demographic is most engaged with the campaign, with over 20% of the submissions received so far coming from that age cohort. 

Commenting on the submission data received to date, Simon Harris, TD, Minister for Further & Higher Education, Research Innovation & Science said, “With only one month to go to the closing date, it is fascinating to see the breadth and variety of the ideas coming in. Considering the year we have just had; it is not surprising to see so many research ideas emerging on health and wellbeing. Everyday concerns on very important topics, such as coping with an aging population,  research into prevalent illnesses, or the climate emergency are being raised- things that are of concern to our communities across Ireland. With these submissions, we will be more aware of what matters to Irish communities for the future, and what areas they would like our researchers to focus on. 

“I would like to take this opportunity to encourage those we have not heard from yet to take five minutes and make a submission directly on creatingourfuture.ie before midnight on the 30^th November 2021. It is important that we hear your ideas, we want to know what opportunities you see, what frustrates you that could be explored by researchers, as this will have a real-life effect and inform the future direction of research in Ireland.”