Dublin City University

Dublin City University (DCU) was founded in 1981 and comprises over 16,000 students including over 2600 postgraduate students, of whom c. 800 are research students. DCU is Ireland’s most innovative university, and in 2016 it delivered more than 200 programmes to over 16,000 students across its five faculties – Humanities and Social Sciences, Science and Health, Engineering and Computing, DCU Business School and the DCU Institute of Education. The University is consistently ranked among the top young universities globally, appearing in the QS Top 50 under 50, and Times Higher (THE) Top 100 under 50. DCU’s excellence is recognised internationally and it is regularly featured among the world’s top young universities. In 2015 DCU’s ranking rose to 75th place in the prestigious Times Higher Education ‚100 under 50‘ In the 2016 QS Top 50 Under 50 league table of the top young universities in the world, DCU’s ranking moved up two places to 44th in the world. It is the only Irish university to feature in these rankings which are designed to emphasise the potential and excellence of universities without decades or centuries of established reputation. DCU has twice been named Sunday Times ‘University of the Year’ (2004, 2010). Dublin City University promotes world class excellence in research and innovation in its core areas, focuses on research and innovation which can make a difference to problems that matter to industry and society and provides a business-friendly environment to multiply the effects of its activities in research and innovation. Dublin City University aims to transform lives and societies through education, research and innovation. In order to achieve this, DCU has arranged much of its research activities to address major areas of societal and economic needs – health, information technology, sustainability and resilience. To ensure that DCU research increases its real-world impact, we are focusing on priority areas where DCU has recognised strengths and where society is facing significant challenges. These areas are:  health technologies, and the healthy and ageing society, information technology and the digital society, sustainable economies and societies and democratic and secure societies. Researchers from across our five faculties – Humanities and Social Sciences, Science and Health, Engineering and Computing, DCU Business School and the DCU Institute of Education – work together within the four research and enterprise priority areas in order to tackle societal problems in new ways and deliver innovations of benefit to society. A Science and Technology Enhancement Platform (STEP) in DCU links key areas of science and technology and allow us to make best use of our existing resources. It will enable DCU to develop infrastructure that will be critically important for future research in core science and engineering disciplines and in addressing several key societal challenges. The Societal Impact Platform will help to incorporate societal perspectives into our research and to increase public engagement. Dublin City University encourages researchers to consider six key aspects to enable a better alignment of their research with the values, needs and expectations of modern societies. These include: engagement, gender equality, science education, open access, ethics, and governance. Horizon 2020 research policy requires that future programmes will include the concept of RRI across the disciplines. DCU provides support to researchers on how to ensure that the research and innovation process they are involved in is driven by the needs of society, is designed and conducted in interaction with societal actors and is aimed to provide solutions to the grand challenges modern societies are currently facing. In particular, Societal Impact Platform (SIP) and the CELSIUS Research Cluster can assist research teams and consortia in planning how RRI can be integrated. This will complement the work of the Research Ethics Committee and Research and Innovation Support’s research integrity programmes.

Contact

Dr. Damien King
Phone +35 31700 6277
damien.king@dcu.ie
https://www.dcu.ie/fpc/index.shtml

Prof. Paul Cahill
Phone + 35 31700 8466
paul.cahill@dcu.ie
https://www.dcu.ie/biotechnology/index.shtml