At work on Tuesday, as the elements became more dramatic they tugged at everybody’s attention. Then there was word of the river breaking its banks downtown. The thought of “heck that’s where I live” was quickly followed by…”hmmm will I be able to get back to base”. And everybody started to work out their own risk level and they tried to remember what might be lying around should their home places be invaded. Concerns at work were growing about electricity supply. The major problem would be the animal house. QIMR is beside a complex of hospitals and they would have priority if back-up generators were needed. Would water continue to flow through the pipes? Would supplies of liquid nitrogen get through? As the questions mounted it became clear that keeping the show on the road was not going to be sensible. It could in fact be dangerous. So we accepted the radio advice and put the priority on safety and went home. The traffic was very heavy as everybody had the same idea. You have seen the movie but usually it is in the science fiction category. And still the crescendo grew. 

Safely back on the 37^th floor, the emphasis changed for me. Everything was functioning in the apartment block and the rain became periodic. So now the question was how long would we be besieged by the weather? Did we have food? Would the shops be open? How long did we have to make provisions for? For me ‘bad weather’ has always meant wet and cold. Here there is no need to muffle up as it was 27degrees when we went to the centre of Brisbane to shop. A ghost town without tumbleweed awaited us! No cars, shops closed and very few people. Well in fact there were a number but they were all in Woolworth’s large supermarket. With food on board we then waited for the next episode. Word came in of the internal tsunami in a major town close by. Would that happen here? Somebody callously calculated that the volume of water that was about to descend on Brisbane was equivalent to the contents of Sydney harbour. That sounded like a dousing. The sea tides that influence the river were also misbehaving and we learned when the “king tide” of the season would come on Thursday morning. TV programmes ran a constant commentary on the events as they unfolded and one “helpfully” modeled what would be under water if the river rose by 5 Meters or even 7. Total disaster in the offing! I moved the car up to a third storey parking place. 

But deceptively, Wednesday and Thursday were pleasant sunny days. The rain stopped. Balmy weather. But below the river was still writing its own different script. It surged past below, cornering at speed. It moved at a speed that would be close to a sprint for a human, but it did not tire. Upstream it continued to collect and display its wares; a door, a mattress, a big plastic container, the jetty with a boat on board, black things, white things, peoples things, a gangway for the local cross-river ferry. Non-stop. Each item representing a loss, a cost and a challenge to put right again after the floods. 

We went down to the riverside. The pleasant boardwalk was several feet under water. The nice restaurant we had lunch when last in Brisbane was awash with the muddy stuff that is today the river. The coffee shops are closed. Dramatically we saw that the river was now on the road at the bottom of our street….a few hundred meters away and uphill it would have to travel…..but still. The street is called Creek Street, and now we know why. A morbid tourism develops as cameras are out to record this once in a lifetime event…….we hope. 

Back on the TV the images are stark. One that hit me was that of the pitch of Suncorp Stadium where rugby is played, completely under water like a brown massive swimming pool. But the predictions are becoming more positive. The worst will be over on Thursday. But the cost is unimaginable both in Aussie Dollars and human grief. However the tone is upbeat. We will get over this, they say. All will pitch in they say. And missing is the blame game, the quick demand for compensation, and “shouldn’t the EU send a special dollop of aid to us” that I believe would be more typical in Ireland if this happened. 

Friday it is back to work, as everything seems to be functioning OK. There will be stories to be told and then repeated until the full fabric of remembrance is in place. The flood story will be one with a start, middle and an end. But living in it the dominant question was; where are we in this narrative? Looking out from the balcony I see the stakes in the water that slowly became submerged by the river yesterday are still submerged. The car park that acted as a meter for the expansion of the river is still under water up to the half-way mark. And a series of unconnected objects worthy of a modern art collection still float by urgently seeking the sea. But I think it is over and will become part of my recollections.

The flight from Europe had been long but as pleasant as ever (I like long flights). I watched and enjoyed Social Network, The Special Relationship (about Tony Blair and Bill Clinton) and a Mark Knofler/Simple Minds concert, listened to Handel’s Firework Concerto William Walton’s music composed for the coronation of George VI, and some great jazz singing by a Canadian artiste  (Jensen was the only name I retained), read some of Sebastian Faulk’s book-A week in December, had two good meals and slept deeply on both the leg into Singapore and from Singapore to Brisbane. All in all a good day’s flight. 

But as we swooped into Brisbane the real questions arose again; how would this be as a home? How would it be for work? How would it be for the work-life balance?  I am accustomed to establishing new home feelings and had just come from a bi-location phase with both Dublin and Heidelberg being ‘home’. But it takes time and subtle harmonies for a location to feel like home. Would Brisbane provide that environment.?

 I have had great luck with my work environments, one better and warmer than the next – always great colleagues and good work challenges. Would that carry through in QIMR? Would the role of running a large (700+) Institute be a good as I imagined it? Would I be up to it?

 And the hardest part is putting those two components together and getting the right balance; all work and no play makes frank a simultaneous success and failure. I have not tried the reverse but expect it would be even worse. Dublin had worked out well because I got involved and integrated into attending various sport events. I was a frequent attendee at plays and concerts. Would the same happen in Brisbane?

So lots of questions as we exited the plane. And then a new one; would there be an Ellis Island like problem with the visa? But  no –  we were swept through without a pause, a custom inspector’s dog caused a moment of concern when he detected the smell of an apple that had been discarded. And all our baggage arrived and the room in our temporary residence was available. No worries! 

Sitting now on the 37^th floor balcony, overlooking the river, on Saturday morning after a Flat White from the coffee shop below, the omens look good. The settling in phase to Brisbane and to QIMR have started well. The people are friendly and the weather is the only topic of concern. There have been apocalyptic rain showers but it is cooler than previous years –that part is welcome. Some local friends have invited us for dinner and the only real challenge so far is decide whether and when to wear shorts. “Tus maith, leath na h’oibre” is the Irish for a good start is half the battle (although interestingly the Irish version focuses on half the work and not the battle). I feel it has been a “Tus maith”.

The time to get internet set up meant that there was a delay in loading this blog. In between Brisbane has made the world headlines with floods……but that is a different story and for another day.

For reasons of harmony I have restricted these to ten examples as outlined below;

(1) It provided support for research that is driven by excellence. SFI was put in place because Ireland did not have a credible research funding system that could match the research councils elsewhere in the world. It was modeled on the NSF in the USA. Although it is generally accepted that there is no robust mathematical equation that links the input into research with the output in terms of benefits, it is also generally accepted that the focus on excellence in research provides the corner-stone to high value industries developing and locating in the country making that investment. 

(2) It has started to show the connection between excellent research and the economy. The best indicator that there is a connection comes from the general outcome of the recent years of work by the IDA Ireland (charged with attracting foreign direct investment to Ireland). Whereas 5 years ago there was no evidence of companies selecting Ireland for activities other than manufacturing, now 50% of the IDA contracts are in the category of R&D.  Many of the worlds leading industries are now establishing research activities in a country that would not have been on their horizon for such activities ten years ago. Research contacts between Irish scientists and companies world-wide is now the frequent start point for discussions between these companies and the IDA giving rise to investments in Ireland (frequently these are not related to R&D)

 (3) It put in place a professional team that is capable of making hard scientific choices. SFI has a small staff numerically (approximately 20 have a strong research background) and the salary bill for SFI is less than 3% of its annual expenditure. But the skills of the scientific and support staff are now well recognised as being top-class. All of the SFI reviewers come from top institutes world-wide and a common comment from those that come to Ireland to participate in panels or site reviews is that the SFI team is world-class. Without this quality the selection system of SFI would not be robust and the investments would have had a much lower impact

 (4) It has altered the culture of the Universities such that top researchers have the twin goals of getting publications in the best journals and of working with industry.  Here the figures from SFI speak for themselves. Selected examples include the fact that the impact of papers in the area of Molecular Biology and Genetics are ranked number 1 in the world and generally the number and impact of publications from Ireland have moved its rankings from being third world to being at or above the OECD country average. In tandem with this, the same researchers responsible for scientific success have established working collaborations with almost 400 different industries. Frequently and increasingly these act as the major attraction for investment by these companies in Ireland

 (5) It has increased the number of patents, disclosures and start-up companies. In 2007 SFI put in place an annual census. The data from these are published annually on the SFI website and all of these direct measures of economically relevant output have increased year on year.

(6) It attracted researchers from all over the world to establish their research activities in Ireland.  Scientists are mobile by necessity. They will move to a country that offers them the right combination of excellent colleagues, the most up-to–date infrastructure and the best possibilities to compete for significant research funding. The fact that over 30% of the group leaders and 50% of the general scientific staff come from outside the country  point to Ireland passing the international test as a great location for excellent scientists. The brave decision of the government to increase the budget of SFI from €150 million to €161 million in 2011 will ensure that this environment will be maintained in the future.

(7) It has been a major driver behind the increased co-operation between agencies in different Government departments.  While I present these achievements as being attributed to SFI, the reality is that support right through the Irish system has been essential. SFI has taken a lead in consolidating co-operation between the different agencies that are of relevance to a research based economy. Formally it has joint programmes with Enterprise Ireland (to develop indigenous industries) and the Health Research Board (HRB). It also works very closely with the Higher Education Authority (HEA), the Department of Foreign Affairs, the Department of Communication Energy and Natural Resources ,the Department of Agriculture Food and Fisheries and all the relevant agencies in those sectors.  A good example of how the active co-operation works comes from the recent joint presentation, with the IDA of research in Ireland that could be on interest to companies based in the Silicon Valley area as a component of the drive to attract even more investment to Ireland.

 (8) It has shown that it has the highest levels of governance and quality control.  In ten years there have inevitably been some questions that have arisen in how the funding (a very significant sum of €1.4 billion) provided by SFI to the Higher Education Institutes has been spent. To date there has been no incident that has provoked serious negative comment from the Controller and Auditor General. Errors have been detected SFI has followed up aggressively and ensured that the situation was corrected and the money refunded. In this SFI has been well served by an attentive and experienced Board that has ensured that the highest standards are adhered to.

(9) It has introduced a panel of programmes that cover all aspects of research and researchers careers.  I think that SFI has been successful because it has avoided the trap of having only one type of research programme. It could have been tempted to put all its resources in the programes that are closest to industry linkages such as the large Centres of Science Engineering and Technology (CSETs) that are very closely aligned to Ireland’ research needs today and the strategically relevant SRCs clusters. These involve direct engagement with industry and are best loved by those with a short-term perspective. But more is needed and is richly provided by supporting excellent research in individual groups. The career needs of those devoting their lives to research in Ireland are provided for in this way and through the innovative support of experienced researchers who have not yet obtained an independent faculty position. 

(10) It has actively managed and monitored all of its awards.  It is almost self-evident that the task of giving out money is relatively easy. Most research councils including SFI do this for their living. But SFI goes further than most that I know in monitoring and managing the awards that they make. Every award is reviewed for its performance at least once a year and follow-up visits are made to labs when it seems necessary to do so. With the input from external experts unproductive lines of research are stopped, emphasis shifted, leaders of strands changed and generally the awards are tightly managed to ensure that the return on the investment is maximal.

 So those are ten indicators of what is achieved to date. I think it instructive to look at the research scene today in Ireland and compare it with the world I described in the eighties in a previous blog. Central to the change was the decision to establish SFI although there are notable additional contributors such as the PRTLI. 

Starting SFI was helped by the flush treasury ten years ago but if Ireland wants to be a modern state with well paid jobs then such an investment should be central to all plans and not nearly a “nice to have “component when funds permit.  The way that SFI has worked to date shows how  real  benefits flow from the money spent to date. So far these have been mostly indirectly with industry and directly though knowledge generation and training of skilled people. But the next decade should bring greater direct benefit to society as relevant problems are addressed and also through new industries being created. 

As I am now no longer the DG of SFI my personal engagement has ended but I will be looking on from the outside with great interest and expectation that the curves of performance, relevance and quality will continue to point upwards.

And a small cabin build there of clay and wattles made

Nine bean rows will I have there adn a hive for the honey bee

And live alone in the bee loud glade.

And I shall have some peace there for peace comes dropping slow

Dropping from the vales of the morning to where the cricket sings

There midnights’ all a glimmer and noon a purple glow

And evening full of the linnet’s wings

I will arise and go now for always night and day

I hear lake water lapping with low sounds by the shore

As I stand on the roadway or on the pavement grey

I hear it now in my deep heart core

W.B.Yeats created two wonderfully opposing images in his well known poem – The Lake Isle of Inisfree, the idyllic sting-free “bee loud glade”, and the emigrant standing lonely “on the pavement grey”. The former image, built around the iconic island that made a perfect John Hines postcard that was framed worldwide by those distant from the beauties of Sligo, was a brave call to return to an economically impoverished Celtic dream that was the fledgling Irish state back then. The pavement landscape of the dreamer was the real consequence of the lack of opportunities, and the pavement was thronged with other realistic dreamers. 

Today we are faced with a return to that scenario. We showed that we could climb high and we have taken a heavy fall. Unemployment is at record levels, as are debts, both public and private. Wholesale restructuring of society is ongoing silently, as pensions that were to allow for a pleasant, but not excessive, retirement have been washed out with no sign that a new tide will make them flush again. Children of the generation that made the transition to a wealthy Ireland, who previously would spurn a decent job, now despair at the lack of opportunities. To go on is to enter into competition with the genuinely anguished voices that speak from the heart and with anger on the Joe Duffy programme. 

I came back to Ireland in 2007 after a ping pong of movements during my life that took me from Sligo to Galway, Leicester to Madison Wisconsin, Strasbourg France, to Galway, and Heidelberg Germany to Dublin. A lot of boxes packed and unpacked and new rhythms established. The return to Ireland was to be my Lake Isle of Inisfree moment. I arose and went there. It carried with it the promise of re-integrating (after 13 years) into the new and improved Ireland, the possibility to contribute to the next phase of the Irish economic miracle by facilitating, through my position in Science Foundation Ireland, the upward transformation of industry in Ireland, and the chance to go to Croke Park, Inchicore (or wherever Sligo Rovers were playing in Dublin), the RDS, and now Aviva for Rugby, the Gate and the Abbey for the plays, and the Concert Hall and O2 for concerts. Add in the real pleasure of frequent (not fleeting) times with family and friends and the new phase seemed as idyllic as the slow-dropping peace of Yeats’ seductive poem. The truth is that all of these briongloids quickly became realities. 

But there were other realities that intruded into my green tinted view of the world. First, the economic crisis impacted the main professional reason for returning. Inevitably the projected funding curve for SFI, as outlined in the programme for 2006-2013, was abandoned and the maintenance of the funding level attained by 2008 was not possible in the 2009 budget. Few in Ireland wept about this, particularly when put into balance against providing a decent level of healthcare etc. But (figuratively), I did. This was not because of losing out in the games associated with budget retention, but because the original plan for Science, Technology and Innovation was the right one, and perhaps, the only one for Ireland’s future if we want to avoid becoming a low income economy. Happily it has been announced that 2011 will mean a return to the funding level of 2008 and SFI can get on with the job of providing the skill and ideas base for the future Irish economy. The fact that there was a cut in 2009 and 2010 and a deviation from the master plan as early as 2008 was perhaps inevitable and it could have been worse. But it is troubling that investment in Research, Development and Innovation also became a sneer target for some of those given direct and indirect responsibility for Ireland’s finances. I have written about the need to believe in the return on investment in science – view here.  Even in these difficult days, the fact that the red pen was spared and an increase was given to SFI means that a lot of courage was shown by some with real influence. They will be needed in the future also if the investmetnt to date is to deliver even more than it has done to date.

The economic down-turn has also made the previously noble phrase ‘public servant’ into a label of deceit. A damaging campaign has been carried out in the media, and now echoed and amplified by the general public to villanise all who are paid by the state and, in the process, to drive a wedge into society generally. Teachers, nurses, Gardai, civil servants and people like myself who have come from outside, now find themselves in conversations where their friends and family take it for granted that we are all merely a drain on the real society. 

In the last months the collective anger has driven the country to a potentially, self-destroying phase. We do begrudgary better than anybody else and we are awarding ourselves Olympic medals in it at present. But like some earlier such Irish medals, there will be an aftertaste when reality breaks through the roars of gloating over enemies slain. 

In the midst of this phase where the roof of the ‘cabin of clay and whattles made’ was leaking and there were weeds overgrowing the undernourished ‘nine bean rows’, I was contacted and opportunities were presented. Apart from awaking me more personally to the doom laden atmosphere in Ireland, these contacts aroused an analysis of some of the downsides of my move to Ireland that I had tried to ignore. These included the ending of a research career that I had maintained at a good level in all previous positions prior to my return to where I thought “peace would come dropping slow” and some personal aspects that don’t need airing. The offer to become the CEO and Director of the Queensland Institute of Medical Research (QIMR) in Brisbane corrected these deficits and added the opportunity / challenge to be involved in a top research institute (largest in Australia and top quality also) at a time when translational research is beginning to deliver, on its long standing promise, to move research into clinical practice. 

So, “I will arise and go” in January. Once more, there are many things lost in the move and it is tinged with sadness. Memories are great when on the “pavement grey”, but living and breathing the great things in Ireland is better. In addition to the joys I have had culturally, being with friends and family, cheering teams to victory and even being recognised when I returned to a coffee shop, there has been the fantastic professionalism, camaraderie and commitment of the SFI team and the pleasure of seeing the great progress that has been made in Irish research with consequences. I know that this is not my last move and that I will be back again in a few years time. By then, I hope that the sun will be shining here again, the states books balanced, and evenings full of the linnets wings.

This time, I wander into the slightly perilous world of the birth of SFI. Perilous because (i) stories such as this are not neatly linear and yet, when written down, they usually are presented as if there was an un-erring plan, and (ii) I only know what I was involved in or heard subsequently, and (iii) there are many fathers of success. So I would welcome input from others to correct modify or add to the history. Personally, I feel that it is very important to lay down a trace of these events even at this early stage and when at EMBO I organised a ‘history meeting’ to coincide with the 40^th anniversary of the organisation and survivors came and told their, often conflicting, stories. But that is for another day.

I have been told that the seed that lead to SFI was first sewn in the late 80’s when the Culliton report looked at Industrial policy in Ireland in a very broad manner including the input from research and education. My first contacts with the nurturing of the seed came when I was part of the Tierney ( STIAC) Report Group. Until then, I had been fully engaged in running the National Diagnostic Centre in Galway but felt I had to move into a different mode of activity when the Government stopped the funding of academic research. Nature wrote an article about it in 1993 and, as it happened soon after the meeting with an unimpressed company that I referred to in the last blog, I contacted the relevant Minister, the late Seamus Brennan T.D.. As Seamus had been a student in Galway at a time when everybody was on nodding terms there, I was able to meet him, ensure that he knew that there were bad consequences for enterprises if Ireland had a reputation of not funding research. And, I found myself named as part of the new group – the Science Technology and Innovation Advisory group (STIAC) – that was asked in the words of the Minister to “find out how much money he was spending on R&D, to advise on whether it was too much or not enough, and to write a White Paper on what he should do next”. And so we did. I had moved to Germany at the time and must admit now that I spent too many nights (approximately 20 trips) back in Ireland as the group met and working parties worked and my family had every reason to wonder why they had moved from Ireland to Germany!

Arising from the STIAC (Tierney) Report, the ICSTI (Irish Council for Science Technology and Innovation) was established. With leadership in particular from Brian Sweeney (from Siemens) and Ed Walsh (of U.L.), the case for the establishment of a new entity focussed on excellent research was prepared. While they worked on this and the more broad question of implementing the STIAC report, Forfás started a process of Technology Foresight to see what areas of research Ireland should focus on. The role of ICSTI in that also grew. I had a small part to play on one sub-committee and, in fact, wondered about the wisdom of predicting the areas that should be prioritised given that Ireland is an open market looking for Foreign Direct Investment and when jobs are on offer from any area the musing of a Foresight group will be ignored. The need to have this exercise was one that I grew to understand and the outcome, in a very short time, was very sensible. Biotechnology and Information and Communication Technology (ICT) were deemed to be the most strategic areas, following an extensive consultation process with a wide range of stakeholders with a particular emphasis on “scenario building”(looking to the future). These areas were sufficiently broad to allow for interpretation that did not stop the flexibility that was needed to allow Ireland to respond to new developments and opportunities identified, in particular, by the IDA. The kernel of the argument in favour of establishing a new agency ( SFI) was that there was a pyramid of industries, and those at the top of the pyramid were ‘high-tech’ and would be the providers of the best paid jobs in the future. At the time Ireland, because of our cost base, was beginning to lose manufacturing jobs to low-cost locations and the choice of chasing these by lowering salaries was not attractive. The daring choice, therefore, was to add to the research pyramid a top layer of excellent, world-recognised research groups that would provide the skill base for advanced companies and would act as an attractant for new high-tech industries. The timeline given for this change of offerings by Ireland was 15 years. This has been delivered ahead of schedule.

The ducks were being lined up through report after report, but political commitment and a budget to match the aspirations that were outlined in documents were now needed. Happily, the economy at the end of the nineties had started the genuine growth phase enjoyed at the beginning of the Celtic Tiger era, but the price placed on the project was high at 500,000 million Irish Pounds and, as always, there were competing calls on the national resources. Mary Harney T.D. was the Minister for Enterprise, Trade and Employment at the time, and with her officials, they looked at a number of models in Europe and elsewhere in order to determine the best structure for the new agency. As part of this process, she visited Israel the Weizman Institute and the impact that it had on the Israeli economy. This further enhanced her belief in the new proposal. On her return, she organised that Brian Sweeney and a small group from ICSTI/Forfas/Department of Enterprise, Trade and Employment would present the plan to the Government at a special meeting of the Cabinet. It was unusual for an outside expert to have this task, but Brian had great credibility coming from a high-tech industry and was eloquent in presenting the Pyramid analogy. Mary Harney then, together with her Minister of State with responsibility for Science and Technology Minister Noel Treacy T.D., succeeded in getting the Government approval for the new agency. An important decision was that responsibility for the new agency would reside in the Department of Enterprise Trade and Employment rather than in Education, as it was seen as a complement to the existing agencies responsible for industrial policy (Forfas, IDA and Enterprise Ireland). That preference undoubtedly gave rise to much discussion both inside and outside the cabinet and for some time!

With the green light given to get things moving, the Department of Enterprise, Trade and Employment allocated responsibility to Forfás to actually establish the Agency, as a sub-group under the existing Forfás legislation. Here, John Travers and Killian Halpin played key roles. A name had to be chosen and Science Foundation Ireland was selected as it gave a nod to the US National Science Foundation that was a model for the new organisation. Documents had to be prepared to flesh out the practical meaning of Biotechnology and Information and Communication Technology. I contributed to the former document and then was asked to be chair of a group of experts that discussed and expanded on the material in hand. Eoin O Driscoll (now Chair of Forfás) was the Chair of the corresponding committee for ICT. All of these preparatory actions then got transferred to an Implementation group chaired by Paul Haran, Secretary General in the Department of Enterprise, Trade and Employment. Core topics such as whether or not researchers paid by SFI could or should contribute to university teaching, the need to introduce overhead payments to successful institutions and whether or not SFI should establish its own Institutes were among those I recall. But the matter of the Institutes was the one most passionately discussed. Those from the universities argued fervently against them, and even commissioned a study that showed that a University (using Stanford as the “representative sample)  had more impact than institutes generally! The use of such an amazingly unscientific or fair comparison shows the extent to which they wanted the Institute idea blocked. I was in favour of the institute idea, as I was working at the time in one that was a world leader and I could see how brilliantly successful it was when the best people had to focus 100% on research and did not have the security of life-time jobs…and the Weizman Institute was a model that had also garnished support as a model for SFI. In the end, it was decided that, at least at the start, there would be no Institutes. And I have to say that the subsequent years have answered some of the concerns that I and others had. Today, the culture of those, (most of them in the universities), that are funded by SFI is completely aligned with the mission of SFI, and the quality and relevance of their work is outstanding by any standards.

The search for a Director General resulted in Bill Harris – from the University of South Carolina but with extensive experience in the NSF – being appointed and that was an essential step for SFI. He brought the culture and processes of the NSF to Ireland and was immune to some of the inevitable pressures that try to influence decisions in small countries. A start-up board was appointed and I was member of that. And then SFI got on with its business.