Research and Innovation Act 2024

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Interpretation

2. (1) In this Act—

“Act of 2022” means the Higher Education Authority Act 2022 ;

“Agency” has the meaning assigned to it by section 7 ;

“An t dar s” means An t dar s um Ard-Oideachas;

“appeals board” has the meaning assigned to it by section 44 (1);

“applicant” has the meaning assigned to it by section 36 ;

“application” has the meaning assigned to it by section 36 ;

“assessors” has the meaning assigned to it by section 10 (4);

“award of funding” has the meaning assigned to it by section 37 (8);

“Board” means the Board of the Agency;

“Chief Executive Officer”, in relation to the Agency, has the meaning assigned to it by section 28 ;

“committee of the Board” means a committee of the Board established by the Board under section 19 ;

“conditions of funding”, in relation to an award of funding, has the meaning assigned to it by section 37 (9);

“Data Protection Regulation” means Regulation (EU) 2016/679 of the European Parliament and of the Council of 27 April 2016¹ on the protection of natural persons with regard to the processing of personal data and on the free movement of such data, and repealing Directive 95/46/EC (General Data Protection Regulation);

“designated institution of higher education” has the meaning it has in the Act of 2022;

“dissolved body” has the meaning assigned to it by section 54 ;

“establishment day” means the day appointed under section 6 ;

“funding scheme” has the meaning assigned to it by section 35 ;

“higher education provider” has the meaning it has in the Act of 2022;

“information” includes data;

“innovation” means the development and use of new ideas, methods, products, processes, policies and services where they have not been used previously;

“Minister” means the Minister for Further and Higher Education, Research, Innovation and Science;

“outcomes and, where appropriate, the impact”, in relation to research and innovation, means—

(a) the likely or achieved changes and effects of a research and innovation activity, and

(b) the extent to which that activity is expected to generate or has generated significant effects (which may be positive or negative, intended or unintended) on economic, social, cultural and environmental development and sustainability,

and such changes and effects may become apparent in the short term, medium term or long term and may vary in different fields of activity and disciplines of research and innovation;

“personal data” has the meaning it has in the Data Protection Regulation;

“prescribed” means prescribed by regulations made by the Minister under section 3 ;

“processing”, in relation to personal data, has the meaning it has in the Data Protection Regulation;

“recipient of funding” has the meaning assigned to it by section 37 (8);

“research” means creative and systematic work in any discipline that is undertaken in order to increase the stock of knowledge (including knowledge of humankind, culture and society) and to devise new applications of available knowledge;

“standard and quality”, in relation to research and innovation, means the standard and quality of the research and innovation assessed and evaluated by reference to international good practices in the relevant field of activity or discipline of research and innovation, including adherence to policies and good practices regarding ethics, integrity and the conduct of research and innovation in that field or discipline.

(2) In this Act, references to research and innovation shall be construed as references to research or innovation or both.

(3) In this Act, references to environmental development and sustainability shall be construed as references to development and actions that meet the needs of the present without compromising the ability of future generations to meet their own needs and, without prejudice to the generality of the foregoing, includes actions in respect of social, economic, cultural and environmental development, climate and biodiversity.

¹ OJ No. L119, 4.5.2016, p. 1