News & Events

DARIAH-IE Welcomes INSPIRE Research Infrastructure Investment Package

Statement from DARIAH-IE

DARIAH-IE, Ireland’s national node of the pan-European Digital Research Infrastructure for the Arts and Humanities (DARIAH), warmly welcomes the recent INSPIRE investment package announcement by Minister for Further and Higher Education, Research, Innovation and Science, James Lawless. In particular we welcome the commitment to support strategic national infrastructure in the investment strategy, which was informed by the recommendations of the Research Infrastructure Working Group.

We are especially encouraged by the report’s explicit recognition that research infrastructure in the Arts, Humanities and Social Sciences (AHSS) “extends beyond traditional laboratory equipment to encompass a broad range of physical, digital, and institutional resources” including digitised archives, large-scale data repositories, shared research platforms, and advanced digital tools. This understanding reflects the distinctive but equally vital infrastructure needs of AHSS research in the modern digital age.

DARIAH-IE in particular welcomes the shared advanced infrastructure model central to INSPIRE. Our experience demonstrates how, by connecting Irish researchers to pan-European computational methodologies and digital research networks, institutional strategies for developing highly-skilled, digitally-fluent graduates equipped for Ireland’s growing tech and creative sectors can be accelerated. 

AHSS infrastructure delivers impact across Ireland’s broader policy objectives beyond traditional economic metrics, advancing national priorities in digitalisation through its role in cultural heritage preservation and accessibility, supporting economic resilience by enabling digital transformation in creative industries, and contributing to social wellbeing by facilitating research on ethics, cultural identity, historical memory, and societal resilience.

The report rightly identifies that chronic underinvestment, fragmentation of resources, and insufficient technical and administrative staffing have constrained the sector’s ability to contribute fully to national and global challenges. We particularly welcome the landmark shift that allows AHSS disciplines to compete for Research Ireland’s infrastructure funding for the first time since PRTLI over 15 years ago. The report’s call for investment in shared digital infrastructure, sustainable funding models for major collections, improved computational access, and enhanced national library and archival resources aligns directly with DARIAH-IE’s mission and the expressed needs of our research community.

This represents a historic opportunity to unlock the full contribution of Arts, Humanities and Social Sciences to public policy development, societal resilience, cultural heritage preservation, and social innovation in Ireland. DARIAH-IE looks forward to playing an active role in realising this vision.

INSPIRE funding announcement: https://www.gov.ie/en/department-of-further-and-higher-education-research-innovation-and-science/press-releases/minister-lawless-launches-750m-inspire-research-infrastructure-investment-package/

Research Infrastructure Working Group Report: https://assets.gov.ie/static/documents/15d31ca7/Research_Infrastructure_Working_Group_-_Report_2025.pdf

DARIAH-IE Engagement Survey

As DARIAH-IE continues to rebuild its presence in Ireland, understanding the needs of the broad digital arts and humanities community in Ireland is essential to us. 

If you use digital data, digital tools or digital methods, or if you have a presence in digital spaces as part of your work in the Arts and Humanities then we want to hear from you.

We invite researchers, academics, practitioners, and support staff working in digitally-enabled research and teaching across the Arts and Humanities to share their thoughts on how we can better serve them. This survey is your opportunity to tell us what’s working, what could be better, and what you’d love to see in the future.

Please take a few minutes to complete this short survey, all responses are completely confidential.

DARIAH-IE Engagement Survey

(Re)introducing DARIAH-IE webinar

11:00 – 12:30 on Tuesday May 27th, 2025

On Tuesday May 27th DARIAH-IE held an online event for members of the Irish Digital Arts and Humanities communities.

The aim of the seminar was to provide an introduction to DARIAH, the pan-European Digital Research Infrastructure for the Arts and Humanities, to highlight the affordances of DARIAH participation to Irish Digital Arts and Research communities and to demonstrate the variety of ways that DARIAH might be structured at a national level to support engagement.

Watch the seminar on our YouTube channel: https://www.youtube.com/embed/zozUBev_C2s?si=UxanGdeBFjWf6QSc

Or have a quick look at the slides: https://www.youtube.com/embed/JQ9n-MtN_bQ?si=4MxGL-HYGW-mWNhu

Recent posts from DARIAH-IE about events and activities of interest to the Irish DH community.