Starting your Research Journey
Starting your research journey can be both exciting and daunting. Whether you're a student starting your research or an industry partner looking for collaborative development, the journey begins with a few essential steps.
Networking events gives you the opportunity to build your profile and meet researchers around Europe interested in making funding applications. Keep your online profile up to date (Orcid, LinkedIn, Research Gate, TU Dublin website etc). Sign up to the Irish Horizon Europe newsletter to hear about these events and to be kept up to date with Horizon Europe news and events.
- National funding Information events - these are sometimes organised when calls open so are attended by those who plan on making an application.
- EU Info Days - these are organised by the European Commission in Brussels / Online, usually, when a work programme is announced or calls are opening.
- Brokerage events help to build consortia for forthcoming calls. You will also get a chance to meet European Commission project officers and hear more about the programme itself.
- Horizon Europe Info days have taken place virtually and all the recordings and attendee lists are available here…………….
- Stakeholder Events are useful for meeting others in your discipline area. For example, if you are interested in energy research you might attend events organised by ESEIA….
- Intertrade and Enterprise Ireland are responsible for increasing Ireland’s uptake of Horizon Europe funding and some of the National Contact points work for them. Further information is available here……
When you’re planning a research project, you can make the research more relevant, and increase its impact and the likelihood that it will be used for positive societal change, by working with the people who are most likely to be affected by it – the research stakeholders. This will make sure that your research is as relevant as possible, that it has meaningful outcomes for your stakeholders, and that it is informed by the latest developments and current practices.
It is important to consider what expertise you need to carry out your research and then identify who can provide this expertise. There are opportunities throughout the research process to involve stakeholders in different ways, and to include voices that are less often heard in the research process. The earlier you involve them the better, and taking a genuine partnership approach will maximise the benefits to you and your partners.
There are lots of supports available to help you map your stakeholders, identify suitable partners, make introductions, and assist you in the collaborative research design process.
Contact engagementandimpact@tudublin.ie for one-to-one supports, and to join our mailing list for networking and upskilling opportunities.
Please see our full resources and supports.
Making research transparent and accessible facilitates better reproducibility, leading to more reliable findings and trust in the research community. TU Dublin has adopted an open research culture and has signed up to national and international principles on open access to research outputs and data. This means that that we subscribe to being “as open as possible and as closed as necessary”.
We have a digital repository ARROW that curates and preserves research scholarly articles, artefacts, and data. Researchers are required to upload the accepted version of journal articles with outside publishers on ARROW to comply with our Open Access Policy.
Some funders have specific requirements relating to open research, which should be observed in making applications for funding to conduct research.
As you prepare and plan for a research project it is important to be aware of our Open Research Support Unit.
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The research funding environment is challenging and very competitive. It is no longer just about writing an application and delivering a piece of research to publish in an academic journal. You have to think about open access, outputs, engagement, data management, EDI and risk factors, and governance has increased.
Our Research Support & Development Unit has a number of ways to help researchers write a winning proposal:
- The Researcher Career Development (RCD) programme includes a number of workshops delivered by experts that will help you make the most of your proposal writing skills.
- The Pre-Award office delivers workshops on individual funding calls near to the call launch. The team will also review your proposal and provide you with access to toolkits and background information to add to your proposal. More information is available on the staff intranet here.....
- The Library team also offers support to researchers in relation to publications, open access and data management.
- The "Know How" section of Research Professional has useful articles including "Winning Proposals," "Winning over funders through open science" and "Impact and Innovation". All TU Dublin staff and students have access to Research Professional.
To plan, capture, communicate and monitor impact, you need to think systematically about the various ways people will benefit from your work. This is more important than ever, as major funding bodies around the world now consider impact a fundamental aspect of almost all research programmes.
Impact is complex and although the impact of some research is apparent straight away, in other cases it can take years, or even decades, for impact to become evident. And this impact may be the result of hundreds of factors, of which your research is just one. However, it is important that you do what you can to direct your research toward positive impacts – while mitigating negative impacts.
Academic impact is the demonstrable contribution that excellent research makes to academic advances, across and within disciplines, including significant advances in understanding, method, theory and application.
Societal and economic impact is the demonstrable contribution that excellent research makes to society and the economy, of benefit to individuals, organisations and nations.
Find out more about impact here.............
The research staff intranet contains more tips and toolkits for TU Dublin staff.
Data Management Planning
Every research project involves obtaining evidence, in the form of data, that is collected during the project lifetime. Data can be quantitative or qualitative, digital or physical, and can be collected through a range of methods. This can include statistics, collections of images, survey data, results of experiments, or many other forms of data.
Good data management is fundamental to the research process. It is a dynamic process that must be carefully considered throughout the course of a research project, from the planning stage through to final publication of results.
Even at this stage it is wise to prepare a Data Management Plan and consider the entire research data lifecycle – essentially everything that you may do with the data, both over the course of their project and beyond. This includes collection, storage, curation, publication, archiving and disposal. This should be a living document which should be revisited throughout the project’s lifecycle.
Funding agencies also require applicants to consider the proposed data and its management. Therefore, it is important to understand their requirements as you prepare for funding.
The Open Research Support Unit can provide support, guidance, and templates to use, so please visit the Data Management Plan.
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