€8.7m funding boost for UCC and CIT announced
€8.7m of funding was announced for UCC, CIT and their industry partners. Picture: UCC
University College Cork (UCC), Cork Institute of Technology (CIT), and nine industry partners have secured €8.7m in funding for Health and Life Sciences studies as part of the iEd Hub program.
The educational institutes and their industry partners form the iEd Hub, a program to develop suitable graduates to work in the pharmaceutical and medical goods sector.
Led by Professor Helen Whelton, Head of the College of Medicine and Health at UCC and Dr Mark Tangney a senior researcher at UCC's Biosciences Institute, the iEd Hub was awarded the funding under the Irish Government’s Human Captial Initiative 3 (HCI 3).
Speaking about the latest funding announcement, Professor John O’Halloran, Interim President of UCC said: “This is a clear example of two educational partners in Cork working together with industry to secure our future.
"Our economy faces significant challenges but at UCC we are working to ensure it is supported across all sectors."
Cork has long been established as a centre for foreign direct investment in Ireland for the pharmaceutical sector.
10 of the top global pharmaceutical companies have operations in Ireland, with over 30,000 people directly employed in this sector.
Medical products and pharmaceuticals make up 31% of Ireland's exports.
Professor O'Halloran said the funding secured recognises UCC's industry engagement and the knowledge their graduates bring to the sector.
“UCC is Ireland’s leading university for industry engagement and our success in this funding is recognition of our knowledge of the type of graduate and skills that are required across industry sectors,” said Professor O’Halloran.
€3.9m was also announced for UCC's Sustainable Futures project along with funding for a Virtual Laboratories project devised in response to Covid-19 and the increased emphasis on online tuition.
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