Higher Education Authority an tÚdarás um Ard-Oideachas HEA

• An Irish–African Partnership for Research Capacity Building
• The Centre for Cross-Border Studies

This proposal brings together all nine universities on the island of Ireland and four universities in Sub-Saharan Africa in a unique, high-level partnership to develop a coordinated approach to Research Capacity Building (RCB) in higher-education institutions. The fundamental aim of this programme is to advance effective policies and strategies for sustainable research capacity-building through a foresight exercise focused on health and education as priorities, with information and communications technology and gender as cross-cutting themes. The long-term goal is to create an Irish-based international network of excellence in development research based on mutual partnerships with universities in the South.http://irishafricanpartnership.ie/

• Building Inclusive Governance Systems for Poverty Reduction
• Dublin City University (awarded a networking grant)

The aim of this project is to start the process of building sustainable relationships between DCU and the University of Dar es Salaam, Tanzania and the University of Addis Ababa, Ethiopia.

The proposals included funding for;

-    Travel to Tanzania and Ethiopia
-    Progress a joint research project with each university in the area of gender and development
-    take part in staff–student seminars
-    formalise agreements with the two universities
-    Outputs will include;
-    One joint research project with each partner
-    A seminar in DCU to present research findings
-    Publications in international peer-reviewed journals

• Sustaining Elements at Local Level for Poverty Reduction
• Dundalk Institute of Technology (awarded a   networking grant)

Dundalk Institute of Technology seeks to lead an Irish inter-university consortium to develop unique academic materials in a postgraduate programme incorporating the following key issues in sustainability. Water resource protection and management is a key facilitator of sustainable growth. Sustainable energy provision facilitates basic survival and economic stability. Community health education will preserve life and health. Gender impact and good governance will act as cross-cutting themes running through technical themes as main drivers of this project to further the overall aim of poverty reduction. The Irish consortium will engage with African partners to deliver academic materials in these areas.

• Global Development through Educution: Enhancing Teacher Education and Educational Research through International Co-operation
• Mary Immaculate College, Limerick

This programme will establish a Centre for Global Development through Education (NCGDE), based at Mary Immaculate College in Limerick. The Centre will be the first of its kind in Ireland. The institutional members of the Centre represent teacher-educators, associated researchers, and NGOs from the island of Ireland. The Centre will contribute to poverty reduction by enhancing the quality of basic education through capacity-building in teacher education.www.cgde.ie

The Centre will work with teacher-educators and Ministries of Education in the South (Lesotho and Uganda initially) to enhance the quality of teaching, learning, and educational research in teacher education.

• The Combat Diseases of Poverty (CDP) Consortium: Building Education and Research Capacity to Address Infectious Diseases in East Africa
• National University of Ireland, Maynooth

Africa is faced with a serious burden of disease due to a complex inter-twining of political, social-cultural, gender, environmental, and biological factors. The concatenation of these causes calls for solutions that are as holistic and multi-factorial as the problems to which they are addressed. Recognising the complexity of diseases of poverty and the requirement for imaginative solutions for their control, this proposal establishes the Combat the Diseases of Poverty (CDP) Consortium. The CDP consortium represents a unique cluster of scientific, academic and NGO professional expertise, along with partners in the private sector, working together.www.cdpc.ie

• Connecting health Research in Africa and Ireland Consortium (ChRAIC) 
• Royal College of Surgeons in Ireland 

Researchers from three Irish, one UK and six African higher-education and research institutions (HEIs) propose a five-year programme of capacity-building for pro-poor research across these HEIs. The focus is on strengthening Irish and African research capacity to inform health systems strengthening to deliver Health and HIV/AIDS interventions. The programme will summarise existing knowledge and knowledge gaps; develop an Irish cross-HEI Ph.D. training programme and produce five Ph.D.s; assess and strengthen research capacity across the partners; conduct research in support of Irish Aid goals; and strengthen links between research outputs and policy in Irish Aid and African countries.

• UCD’s International Development Studies Initiative: Consolidating and Expanding Capacity with Strategic Partnerships
• University College Dublin
  
  The new Chair will head up a Centre of International Development Studies (CIDS) to:
  1) Fund a multi-disciplinary team of researchers working on poverty reduction in the Conway Institute (Medical Science), Geary Institute (Social Science) and Urban Institute (Environmental and Agricultural Science).
  2) Use UCD’s investment in ‘Horizons’ and the ‘fourth level’ to expand development modules available to students in UCD and partner universities.
  3) Develop a deep partnership with the University of Dar es Salaam in Tanzania and allow access to other African universities via partnerships with other Irish universities.
  4) Support Irish Aid and use diverse dissemination mechanisms.