Introduction
A strategic opportunity through Research Ireland INSPIRE
Across Europe, research infrastructure has evolved far beyond laboratories and equipment.
The European Research Area now recognises digital knowledge infrastructures as essential national assets, underpinning Open Science, research integrity, FAIR data, AI readiness and international competitiveness. This is reflected in the development of European infrastructures such as DARIAH, CLARIN, OPERAS and the European Open Science Cloud.
Research Ireland’s INSPIRE programme presents a once-in-a-generation opportunity to build research infrastructure that serves not individual institutions, but the national research system.
The question is therefore not ‘What infrastructure does my university need?’ but rather ‘What research infrastructure does Ireland need that no single institution can build, govern or sustain alone?’
Statement
Ireland has invested significantly in institutional repositories, digital collections, archives, research data services and digital scholarship. These investments are substantial, but they remain largely fragmented. Institutions continue to develop parallel technical solutions, governance models and preservation capacity, often addressing the same challenges independently.
INSPIRE provides an opportunity to move beyond this model.
Rather than funding another collection of institutional projects, Ireland could establish a federated national Arts, Humanities and Social Sciences Research Infrastructure—one that connects existing institutional strengths through shared standards, governance and services while preserving institutional ownership and autonomy.
This is the model advocated internationally by Torsten Reimer and increasingly adopted across European research infrastructure: coordination without centralisation; collaboration without loss of institutional identity.
The return on investment is compelling. A nationally coordinated infrastructure would:
- maximise previous institutional investment rather than duplicate it;
- reduce unnecessary parallel development across the sector;
- deliver economies of scale through shared services and expertise;
- strengthen Ireland’s competitiveness for Horizon Europe and future Framework Programmes;
- improve international visibility and responsible research assessment;
- provide sustainable infrastructure beyond individual project lifecycles;
- position Ireland as a European leader in Arts, Humanities and Social Sciences research infrastructure.
This is not simply a technology investment. It is an investment in national research capability.
Like transport networks or broadband, research infrastructure creates value because it connects people, knowledge and institutions. Its greatest return comes not from serving individual organisations but from strengthening the research ecosystem as a whole.
The opportunity presented by INSPIRE is therefore larger than any individual institution or project. It is an opportunity to build a shared national capability that will support research excellence, innovation and knowledge creation across Ireland for decades to come.
The invitation is simple: let us work together to develop a national consortium and a shared vision for Arts, Humanities and Social Sciences research infrastructure that is worthy of Ireland’s research ambitions.
Issued by DARIAH-IE, July 2026
