Peace Process Set to Boost Collaboration

Abstract

The new Northern Ireland Assembly, to be elected later this month, will create a North-South Council with a pot of funds to set collaborations rolling in areas of common interest between Northern Ireland and the Republic. The newly signed peace agreement specifically mentions agriculture, the environment, European Union programs, fisheries, and health--all of which could include a significant scientific component--and the council itself could add other areas, making researchers eager for science to be early and relatively noncontroversial area for enhanced collaboration, says an official in Dublin's Office of Science and Technology.