Dr Aine Ryan

Head of Research Engagement, Edinburgh Earth Initiative

Background

I joined Edinburgh Earth Initiative in May 2023, as Head of Research Engagement. Previously, I was based in Edinburgh Research Office, as International Research Funding Manager, where I led the University's EU & International research funding portfolio team (formerly the 'Europe Team'). Prior to joining the University of Edinburgh, I held research management roles at both Heriot-Watt University and the University of Glasgow. Before moving to a career in research management, I was a postdoc in the Department of Chemistry at the University of York.

Qualifications

BSc(Hons) Science (Chemistry), University College Dublin

PhD Chemistry, University College Dublin

Responsibilities & affiliations

Member ARMA, EARMA

Deputy Project Coordinator H2020 funded project 'Una.Resin'. Grant Agreement No. 101017416. https://cordis.europa.eu/project/id/101017416 

Project activity

Una.Resin: Towards a common Una Europa RESearch and INnovation ecosystem. Funded by Horizon 2020, grant agreement ID: 101017416

Una Europa’s ambition is to create a truly European inter-university environment for collaboration in education, research and innovation. We commit ourselves to driving European leadership by creating a University of the Future as an international, value-driven, innovative community of researchers, students and professional services that is open and inclusive. Through the 1Europe ‘European Universities’ pilot project, we are taking the first steps towards creating a single education eco-system for our students, through establishing a Europe-wide living lab for testing Joint Innovative Formats for education and mobility. In Una.Resin, we will take the first steps towards creating a common research and innovation (R&I) eco-system for our researchers and partners. We will create a university of the future, where our students, researchers and staff, in collaboration with our shared partners and communities, will make the world a better place. In Una.Resin we will create shared strategies on Research and Innovation, Sharing Research Infrastructure and Resources, and Strengthening Human Capital. For each of these strategies, we will develop accompanying action plans and roadmaps and - through a series of pilot actions - begin their implementation. We will test innovative models for barrier free interdisciplinary cross-border collaboration and team science to address societal challenges. We will develop and test new ways of sharing our existing digital research infrastructures with a wider group of academic, non-academic, and citizen stakeholders. We will identify and test solutions to overcome any current barriers that may hinder the establishment of a seamless, common R&I eco-system. Throughout our joint action plans, we will incorporate specific elements to ensure the mainstreaming of Open Science, and to fully embed both citizens and other non-academic actors in all stages of the R&I lifecycle. We become a global model for international research collaboration.

https://cordis.europa.eu/project/id/101017416 

https://www.una-europa.eu/ 

Invited speaker

'Enabling ERC research at The University of Edinburgh'. Irish National ERC Support and Information Forum, September 2020.  

I work with colleagues across the University to lead the Edinburgh Earth Initiative’s climate and sustainability related research growth ambitions. Our support for research will be focused on the strategic growth or expansion of research communities that are aligned to our core research themes, or that offer new connections across them, with the fundamental goal being to ensure that ideas, technology and expertise make a difference in the world.

Principal's Medal 2020 

Joint award to Helen McMillan (Edinburgh Global), Isabell Majewsky Anderson (Edinburgh Global) and Aine Ryan (Edinburgh Research Office) for the part they played, as a team, in the huge efforts to sustain and build our partnership, exchange, alliance and research engagement across Europe as Brexit approaches, and latterly in the context of the additional complications of Covid-19.