Objective 1
Increase the quality, quantity and impact of our research, scholarship and innovation Research and scholarship are at the heart of the University, and epitomise the identity and reputation of University College Dublin.
The knowledge they generate enables our nationally and internationally leading activities in innovation, enriches the education of our students and delivers impact economically, socially, culturally and in the formation of public policy.
Our vision for UCD in 2020 is built on a foundation of excellent and important research, delivering answers to challenges of global significance in which UCD and Ireland can play a leading role. We recognise that many of these challenges require long-term approaches, and we will value and promote fundamental discovery research as well as application-oriented research.
We believe that it is important to capture and convey the impact of research, scholarship and innovation, and we will spearhead the development of a national articulation of this impact. Recognising the particular impact a research-intensive university can deliver through its portfolio of innovation activities, we will further develop our already-strong portfolio of innovation programmes, patent development, spin-out companies and technology transfer.
Over the lifetime of this strategy we will adopt actions to increase the quality, quantity and impact of our research, scholarship and innovation to levels equal to or exceeding those of a comparator group of world top 100 universities. In measuring our progress against these objectives we will use quantitative metrics including publications, citations, research income, PhD students and patents, paying appropriate attention to disciplinary norms. We will also recognise high quality work that is not captured by such metrics, tracking esteem indicators and transformative contributions. We will take steps to define, capture and convey the impact of our research, innovation and scholarship both nationally and globally.
