Research budgets: Too influential

It must be a matter of concern that the outgoing president of University College Cork, Michael Murphy, has rung an alarm bell and warned that Ireland’s research agenda is too heavily influenced by business and industry.

Dr Murphy warned that the sector is over-represented on the bodies that allocate research funding to universities.

The friction between town and gown is as old as the idea of a university but this issue is hardly ever resolved to the satisfaction of industry and academics.

However, at a moment when so many of the certainties of our world are tumbling, when the ideas of fact and fantasy are so interchangeable, Dr Murphy’s concerns must be considered.

Speaking after a decade in charge at UCC — when funding was either slashed or stagnant until last year — Dr Murphy said that the system used to appoint people to the various agencies that allocate funding must be reviewed so a better balance might be struck.

After less than a week of the Trump presidency, any voice that suggests that educational institutions of any kind be strengthened must be listened to.