Exploring faculty research activity in Technology Universities in Ireland.

Higher education research and innovation play a crucial role across Europe in supporting social cohesion, economic growth and global competitiveness. Irish Institutes of Technology (IOT) are transitioning to Technology Universities (TU) through a series of forced mergers aimed at the consolidation and realignment of the sector. Creating a TU climate of research active faculty and an embedded culture of research is crucial to the stabilisation of each TU, to ensure continued success in attracting institutional and research funding, for the professional development of faculty and the creation of innovative teaching-learning environments. Therefore, there is a need to shed light on the experiences of faculty as they meet the organisation demands of active engagement in research and research related activities in their new Technology Universities. . This transition is similar to that experienced by other European institutions and colleges who have been challenged to engage in increased research activity, the identification of research structures, and the development of the skills and competencies required of researchers (EUROPEAN COMMISSION, 2011, Pinheiro, Geschwind and Aarrevaara, 2016; Vartiainen, 2017; Zeeman and Benneworth, 2017; EUA, 2019; Aasen, 2020).
This research aims to explore the nature of personal engagement/disengagement by faculty in research work in Technology Universities in Ireland.