Overview
The Atlantic Futures Project is a partnership between Atlantic Technological University, Ulster University, University of Galway and University of Limerick.
The Partnership:
- CREATES a research team organised in three co-located hubs Derry/Londonderry, Galway, Limerick.
- DEVELOPS a national resource on the scale and with similar ambition to the Edinburgh Futures Institute.
- UNITES both strategic and basic research strategies and deploys a variety of methodologies, including GEM, science studies, behavioural science, action research, critical feminist studies, citizen research, patient participant enquiry, and a variety of methodologies from economics and management.
Focussing on the North West Atlantic Innovation Corridor region, the project launched on January 13th 2023 and, over the upcoming 4 years, the aim of the collaboration is to become self-sustaining and established as an internationally recognised centre of excellence for impactful research.
Outcomes & purpose
Atlantic Futures takes an outcomes based approach to research that is made possible by the partnership of scale. There is a focus on 4 outcomes that are delivered via 6 work research streams.
- Alignment of the research capacity of the leading research institutions in the west of Northern Ireland and Ireland around the problems of transition and transformation in our shared region. Included in this outcome is the development of capacity to capture the insights generated by aligned research projects (hydrogen technology, creative economy, childhood studies) to create integrated data sets and outputs.
- Development of a body of research co-created with relevant stakeholders addressing specific salient issues affecting the three city region. Outcomes here will include relevant policy advice for national and regional development agencies, businesses, and civil society groups.
- Achieving robust, scientifically novel insights into the developmental pathways for multi-city non-metropolitan regional transformation. This outcome is particularly orientated toward challenge areas of the Horizon Europe programme and responses to the green, digital, and energy transitions.
- Understand the role inter-cultural understanding and misunderstanding plays in cross-border collaboration and co-ordination. This activity is locally focused but aims to develop insights that can applied across other border regions in Europe. The project will create a research team organised in three co-located hubs Derry/Londonderry.
Themes & research projects
The project is delivered by 6 research streams. These packages interrogate 3 key themes:
- The endogenous features of innovation in regional context (RS 1, 2)
- Empowering women and young people (RS 3,4)
- The technological and infrastructural opportunities and challenges faced by innovation (RS 5,6)
Each work package engages with partners in civil society, business, and governance with many major partners, being involved across several work packages. Engagements will be managed in a co-ordinated set of integrated activities, such as masterclasses, briefings and summer schools, which knit the work packages together.
The deliverables from the consortium in its first four years of operation are extensive and diverse. They include seven doctorates, focus groups, surveys, a variety of high-quality research publications, reports, masterclasses, and a mentoring scheme for female entrepreneurs in the region. These are specified in the work-plan descriptions establishing itself as an internationally recognised centre of excellence for impactful research.
