26.01.2009
The National University of Ireland (NUI) and the Royal College of Surgeons in Ireland (RCSI) today signed a partnership 
agreement with two French universities and two major French research institutions. The signing took place at the Irish Embassy in Paris. The agreement is the first of its kind between Ireland and France and will allow institutions between the two countries to collaborate and share information more openly in the area of translational medical research and optical imaging.
The collaboration will enable students and researchers to carry out research and training, as well as sharing research facilities between the five bodies, including the Royal College of Surgeons in Ireland (RCSI), the National University of Ireland (NUI), the Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique (CNRS), the Universities of Montpellier and the Institut National de la Santé et de la Recherche Médicale (Inserm). The five institutions will also jointly apply for funding and will collaborate on existing projects together within the scientific field of biological imaging.
Dr. Attracta Halpin, Registrar of the NUI said “As part of the National Strategy for Science, Technology and Innovation, the Irish Government has set ambitious targets for the expansion of Ireland’s research capability, including for example the doubling of our PhD graduates by 2013. The National University of Ireland and its constituent universities and recognised colleges are proud to play a major role in the achievement of these targets and in the realisation of national policy objectives for research.
However we are very conscious of the importance of collaboration in building research strength. We are a small country with a limited pool of researchers. We realise that there are considerable benefits to be derived from successful international collaboration, from joint applications for funding, from the pooling of research efforts, talent and expertise, from providing opportunities for researchers to work together and in particular, for young scholars at a formative stage in their research careers, to develop a broader range of skills sets. The opportunities for co-supervision of PhD students between the NUI and the Universities of Montpellier are a highly significant aspect of the scientific agreement and will greatly enrich the doctoral training experience of young Irish and French researchers. For all of these reasons we are very happy to be a party to this Agreement and we look forward to flourishing co-operation between our universities and institutes in the future.”
Professor Brian Harvey, Director of Research at RCSI said, “Some of the current funded research programmes supported under the agreement are in the area of health research and include advanced imaging investigations in traumatic brain injury, cerebral ischemia (stroke), epilepsy and colorectal cancer. This scientific collaboration provides a unique framework for Irish and French researchers to engage in joint research programmes in biological imaging and translational medical research.”
The Franco-Irish collaboration is a result of the recent establishment of the National Biophotonics and Imaging Platform Ireland (NBIP) which includes the NUI and the Universities of Montpellier. The €30 million platform is funded by the Higher Education Authority of Ireland and led by the Royal College of Surgeons in Ireland.
The mission of NBIP is to provide an integrated national access and training infrastructure in research, education, technology 
development and industry collaboration for Ireland’s investment in Biophotonics and Imaging. The objective of the training programme is to develop the career prospects of researchers at an early stage of their career to become independent investigators and senior scientists in academia or industry.
Currently there are over 150 Irish researchers working in association with NBIP Ireland. Under the agreement, they will have the potential to freely collaborate with France through the Institut de Génomique Fonctionelle (IGF) and other EU laboratories affiliated with this group and NBIP.
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