News

James Kelly, ICUF CEO, pictured with His Excellency Charles Flanagan T.D., Minister for Foreign Affairs and Trade (Ireland), His Excellency Rob Nicholson M.P., Minister of Foreign Affairs (Canada), Mr .Oliver Murray, ICUF Trustee after the announcement of the James M. Flaherty Scholarship Program

Toronto, March 13 – The Ministers of Foreign Affairs of Canada and Ireland announce joint government funding of the James M. Flaherty Scholarship Program, to be run by the Ireland Canada University Foundation over the coming 5 years.

This program will honour the work of Canada’s former Minister for Finance, a leader and a man of vision who, in his commitment to public service, strove to better the lives of all Canadians. Ever proud of his Irish heritage, this program will honour Jim Flaherty’s life’s work, by supporting educational exchange and partnership between Canada and Ireland at the highest level of academia, with the aim of facilitating a greater engagement between the peoples of both countries in matters to do with shared culture, innovation and trade.

The scholarships will be operated at two levels:

• Established researchers and academics – to enable part-time sabbatical-style leave from their academic appointments to spend up to two months as visiting professors in a university department in the other country, where they will collaborate in both research and teaching.

• Emerging research scholars – typically either PhD students or post-doctoral young academics, embarking on a research career. Level 2 scholarships will enable these scholars, through a four-week visit to the other country, to make contact with researchers working on related research topics and to widen and deepen their research horizons. These contacts will facilitate continuing research collaboration.

A centre piece of the James M. Flaherty Scholarship Program will be a high-profile annual lecture, to be given in Ireland by a leading figure in the Irish-Canadian field. The speakers, selected in conjunction with both governments, will speak on a subject of interest to both countries.

More details of the James M. Flaherty Scholarship Program will be announced in due course. If you would like to be kept up to date on this program, please click here.

This announcement was made at a reception held in the Metro Convention Centre in advance of the Ireland Fund of Canada’s annual St. Patrick’s Lunch, and we would like to thank our friends in the Ireland Fund of Canada for facilitating this announcement.

To view the announcement on the Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade Ireland website, click here.

To view the announcement the Department of Foreign Affairs, Trade and Development Canada website click here.