RI Board & Advisory Committee

Ryan Institute Governance

Designated Research Institutes in NUI Galway are characterised by significant interdisciplinary (e.g. cross-College) and high-quality research activity, including extensive collaboration nationally and internationally. The role of the Research Institutes is to:

1) Reflect the University’s priority thematic research areas and promote and market the major institutional research activities in a clear and consistent manner, as part of coherent and clear brand identity;

2) Enable/facilitate research on a larger scale than can be achieved by individual researchers and/or smaller units, through clustering of cognate research activities into Centres or Clusters to encourage collaborative team-based activities

3) Provide the required technical and administrative facilities and supports to its members to enable their research, and allow the University to respond to key developments in national and international research and funding.

Each Research Institute in NUI Galway has an Institute Advisory Board, an Institute-University Board, and an Institute Executive Management Team (Executive Committee). 

The Vice-President for Research chairs the Ryan Institute University Board, which is comprised of the Dean of the College of primary affiliation, other relevant Deans, Dean of Graduate Studies, the Institute Director, Associate Directors, Finance and HR Representatives and 1-2 members of the Institute. The Board provides an annual briefing for the University President on the development and evolution of the Institute.

The Director of the Ryan Institute reports directly to the Institute University Board via a dual reporting relationship to the VP Research (on strategic direction and institute development) and to the Deans on matters relating to finance; resources and personnel; risk management and compliance. The Director also works with the College(s) on strategic recruitment needs, workload models and educational programme matters.

Each Research Institute also has an External Advisory Panel which provides advice on the strategic direction and development of the Institute and, as appropriate, research and policy trends, partnerships and networking opportunities and benchmarking/review.

 The Ryan Institute Executive Committee is composed of the Ryan Institute Director, Ryan Institute Associate Directors, the Leaders of each of the Ryan Institute Research Clusters and Centres. The Ryan Institute Operations and Technical teams each have a representative in attendance. 

The NUI Galway Strategy (2020-2025) has a strong focus on its Research Institutes, where the Ryan Institute has a key role to play in relation to sustaining our planet and people, with a particular focus on the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs). The Ryan Institute is a lead research institute in NUI Galway for advancing research excellence and impact in relation to (a) climate action, (b) clean energy, (c) ocean, freshwater and terrestrial ecosystems, (d) sustainable bioeconomy and (e) One Health. The Strategy has a focus on invigorating the NUI Galway Research Institutes, including by investing to achieve a sustainable research ecosystem that supports our research institutes, centres, core research facilities and research support systems, with a particular focus on investment in talent and award support. A key feature of the NUI Galway Strategy (2020-2025) is the establishment of graduate schools in distinctive research priority areas and aligning our postgraduate programme development with the work of our interdisciplinary Research Institutes.