Ireland has launched a strategy to position Irish researchers at the forefront of Europe. The Irish Research Council for Science, Engineering and Technology (IRCSET) and the Irish Research Council for Humanities and Social Studies (IRCHSS) announced a major new funding initiative for the establishment of graduate research education programmes in Ireland. The initiative will award 6-10 million Euro to proposals from consortia of higher education institutes that wish to set up a graduate research education programme. These programmes are expected to help better equip Irish research teams to compete for State research funding, as well as for European funding, through such structures as the Seventh Framework Programme (FP7) and the European Research Council (ERC), which is part of FP7. Ireland research news