Business over-influences university research agenda

Departing UCC president, Michael Murphy, welcomes funding from industry but worries it dictates research decisions, he tells Education Correspondent Niall Murray.

The business community has too much influence on Ireland’s research agenda, at the expense of non-scientific disciplines, the outgoing president of University College Cork, Michael Murphy, says.

Murphy says business is over-represented on bodies that make important funding decisions, though he wants the sector to continue contributing to higher education, via taxes and philanthropy.