US-Ireland R&D Partnership Programme

The US-Ireland Research and Development (R&D) Partnership Programme is a unique initiative involving funding agencies across three jurisdictions: United States of America (US), Republic of Ireland (RoI) & Northern Ireland (NI).

The overall goal of the Partnership is to increase the level of collaborative R&D amongst researchers and industry across the three jurisdictions. This collaboration aims to generate valuable discoveries and innovations which are transferable to the marketplace, or will lead to enhancements in health, disease prevention or healthcare.

The Partnership achieves its goals through tri-partite research projects in which the funding agencies fund the elements of research undertaken in their own jurisdiction. Importantly, the Partnership must add significant value to each research programme above that achievable by the PI in each jurisdiction working alone.

The current focus of the US-Ireland R&D Partnership Programme, as agreed by the Partnership Steering Group, is on the following seven thematic areas:

• Sensors & Sensor Networks
• Nanoscale Science & Engineering
• Telecommunications
• Energy & Sustainability
• Cybersecurity
• Health
• Agriculture

For proposal submissions under Sensors & Sensor Networks, Nanoscale Science & Engineering, Telecommunications, Energy & Sustainability and Cybersecurity themes, please refer to the ‘US-Ireland R&D Partnership Proposal to the National Science Foundation (NSF)’ information in the Application details section below.

For proposal submissions under the Health theme, please refer to the ‘US-Ireland R&D Partnership Proposal to the National Institutes of Health (NIH)’ information in the Application details section below.

For proposal submissions under the Agriculture theme to the US National Institute of Food and Agriculture, please contact the Department of Agriculture, Food and the Marine (in the RoI) or Department of Agriculture, Environment and Rural Affairs (in NI).

Research Ireland, together with the NSF and the Department for the Economy in Northern Ireland has developed a mechanism to link Research Ireland Research Centres, NSF-funded Engineering Research Centres and researchers in Centres in Northern Ireland. For further details please refer to US Ireland R&D Partnership Programme: Centre-to-Centre Mechanism information in the Application details section below.

Each US-Ireland R&D Partnership proposal must have a minimum of one applicant from each jurisdiction and significant research participation by all three jurisdictions. The work proposed for each jurisdiction must add significant value, so that the overall programme of research goes beyond what might be achieved by any one PI working alone supported by national funding only.

The applicants from each jurisdiction will write a joint tri-partite proposal in the format required by NSF or NIH. It is the responsibility of the US investigator to submit the tri-partite proposal to the respective agency for review. Proposals are evaluated in accordance with the standard NSF or NIH review criteria of intellectual merit and broader impacts of the proposed effort. The funding agencies on the island of Ireland have agreed to accept the decisions of NSF and NIH with regard to the suitability for funding of individual proposals

A US-Ireland R&D Partnership Programme application must have a minimum of one academic applicant from each of the three jurisdictions. Significant participation by researchers in all three jurisdictions must be demonstrated in the application.

Researchers should be at mid-stage or senior stage in their career. For specific eligibility criteria please refer to relevant call documentation.

Notification of Intent to Submit

In order to participate in a US-Ireland R&D Partnership proposal to the NSF or NIH, NI and RoI eligible applicants must send a mandatory Intention to Submit (ITS) form to the relevant funding agencies, North and South, from the Research Institution Research Offices on behalf of the RoI and NI lead applicant respectively. The information in this form will be used for planning purposes by the agencies. For templates and deadlines please see relevant call documentation.

Draft “Tri-Partite” proposal submission

In advance of submission of the final tri-partite proposal to the NSF or NIH, RoI and NI funding agencies will evaluate the draft proposal and either approve or decline support. Therefore, a draft of the tri-partite proposal for submission to the NSF or NIH must be submitted to the NI and RoI funding agencies in advance of full proposal deadline. For specific timelines and requirements please see relevant call documentation.

Submission of Final Tri-Partite Proposal to NSF or NIH

Once eligibility of the proposal has been confirmed by the RoI and NI funding agencies and the draft tri-partite proposal approved, the RoI and NI PIs are permitted to submit the tri-partite proposal to the NSF or NIH via their US partner, as it is the US partner who takes the lead on submission of the full proposal, including all necessary documentation, to the US funding agency via their Research Institution.

Each of the RoI and NI funding agencies will write a Funding Commitment Letter outlining their level of budget commitment subject to NSF or NIH approval of the tri-jurisdictional proposal. Funding Commitment Letters are sent to the applicant by their funding agency and must be included in the final NSF or NIH submission.

The following guidance document provides details on how to apply to the programmes at the NSF under the US-Ireland R&D Partnership programme. Research Ireland manages the NSF section of the programme for RoI applicants and the Department for the Economy Northern Ireland (DfE) manages the NSF section of the programme for NI applicants.

• Call Document
• NSF – Mandatory Intention to Submit Form 2025
• NSF – ROI Full Application Cover Sheet
• NSF – ROI Full Application Budget Table
• Frequently Asked Questions

The following guidance document provides details on how to apply to programmes at the NIH under the US-Ireland R&D Partnership programme. Please note that for RoI applicants, Research Ireland and the Health Research Board (HRB) work in partnership for applications to the NIH and have agreed to co-fund RoI applicants whose collaborative proposal is approved for funding by the NIH. Research Ireland and HRB will jointly fund the RoI applicant at a level of 50% each and operate a rotating administration of the programme. Research Ireland manages the NIH section of the US-Ireland R&D Partnership programme for RoI applicants. In Northern Ireland, the partner agencies are the Health & Social Care R&D Division (HSC R&D) and the UKRI Medical Research Council.

• Call Document

Please use the below word document templates when preparing your application to this stream of the programme. 

• NIH – Mandatory Intention to Submit Form 2025
• NIH – ROI Full Application Cover Sheet
• NIH – ROI Full Application Budget Table
• NIH – ROI Infrastructure Agreement
• Frequently Asked Questions

The following guidance document provides details on how to apply to the Centre-to-Centre programme. Research Ireland manage the programme for RoI applicants and the Department for the Economy Northern Ireland (DfE) manages the programme for NI applicants.

• Guidance Document

If you are considering applying to the Centre-to-Centre stream, please contact Research Ireland (usireland@researchireland.ie) to receive copies of the relevant templates in word document form. 

• NIH Grants & Funding Opportunities.
• NIH Centre for Scientific Review.
• NIH RePORT(provides access to reports, data, and analyses of NIH research activities, including information on NIH expenditures and the results of NIH supported research).
• NIH RePORTER (this is a repository of NIH-funded research projects and provides access to publications and patents resulting from that funding).
• NSF Funding Opportunities.
• NSF Award Search (to search for successful US-Ireland applications and other awards made by the NSF).