Atlantic Technological University
Mission
Atlantic Technological University (ATU) is a large multi-campus university in the west and north-west of Ireland, serving a diverse group of learners, staff, communities, and organisations from its region and further afield.
It offers a rich combination of academic and research excellence, quality of life and opportunity – all of which can be experienced in the most beautiful part of Ireland.
Atlantic TU will have the critical mass and academic depth to attract, educate, nurture, and retain talent in Ireland’s western, north-western, and cross-border regions.
Its collaborative approach ensures that it delivers practice-orientated study, and research that seeks to address the major challenges facing society and the world.
As a technological university with campuses across Ireland’s western and north-western regions, it is dedicated to enabling sustainable economic, as well as social and cultural development—connected to its region but with a mindset that reaches far beyond that.
As an institution of scale, quality, and impact, ATU will have a greater capacity for collaboration with international partners and ATU graduates will have excellent employment potential nationally and internationally.
In terms of research and innovation, ATU will continue a proud tradition of industry engagement, through collaborative research and providing courses at undergraduate and postgraduate levels that meet employers’ skills requirements. As the leading educational institution in the region, its students, staff, and communities will be intrinsically linked to regional employers, building sustainable employment opportunities, and driving growth in the west and north-west of Ireland.
As a signatory of the TU-NET Joint Statement of Open Research, ATU is committed to fully applying the principles of openness, collaboration, and accessibility to the research process, believing this is key to achieving optimum research outcomes and more effectively catalysing regional economic and social development.
It offers a rich combination of academic and research excellence, quality of life and opportunity – all of which can be experienced in the most beautiful part of Ireland.
Atlantic TU will have the critical mass and academic depth to attract, educate, nurture, and retain talent in Ireland’s western, north-western, and cross-border regions.
Its collaborative approach ensures that it delivers practice-orientated study, and research that seeks to address the major challenges facing society and the world.
As a technological university with campuses across Ireland’s western and north-western regions, it is dedicated to enabling sustainable economic, as well as social and cultural development—connected to its region but with a mindset that reaches far beyond that.
As an institution of scale, quality, and impact, ATU will have a greater capacity for collaboration with international partners and ATU graduates will have excellent employment potential nationally and internationally.
In terms of research and innovation, ATU will continue a proud tradition of industry engagement, through collaborative research and providing courses at undergraduate and postgraduate levels that meet employers’ skills requirements. As the leading educational institution in the region, its students, staff, and communities will be intrinsically linked to regional employers, building sustainable employment opportunities, and driving growth in the west and north-west of Ireland.
As a signatory of the TU-NET Joint Statement of Open Research, ATU is committed to fully applying the principles of openness, collaboration, and accessibility to the research process, believing this is key to achieving optimum research outcomes and more effectively catalysing regional economic and social development.
Contribution to Open Science
ATU is a new university, established in April 2022 through the merger of three existing institutes of technology located along Ireland's western and north-western seaboards.
The university was established under the terms of the Irish government's Technological Universities Act of 2018. One of the articles of this act mandates that technological universities establish strong research capacities, with a specific focus on applied research that is congruent with regional development plans. Facilitating the circulation of validated scholarly knowledge from the academy into the local economy – for the purposes of promoting sustainable growth – is one of the core strategic aims of ATU.
The open scholarship agenda is at the heart of ATU's research strategy. In September 2023 the university’s president, Dr Orla Flynn, signed the TU-NET Joint Statement of Open Research, along with the presidents of Ireland's four other TUs. The statement asserts "that fully applying the principles of openness, collaboration, and accessibility to the research process is key to achieving optimum research outcomes and will more effectively catalyse regional economic and social development.”
The work that went into agreeing and preparing this joint statement is an indication of ATU's commitment to working collaboratively with other Irish RPOs, both sectorally and nationally, to advance open research.
Another indication of this is ATU's close engagement with Ireland's National Open Research Forum. Staff from across the university participated in the working groups that led to the publication of Ireland’s National Action Plan for Open Research in November 2022, and it currently has members on the boards of two NORF-funded projects. The university is also a stakeholder in NORF's National Open Access Monitoring project.
As members of the EU Green Alliance of technological universities, ATU’s commitment to collaboration and strategic alliances extends from the sectoral and the national into the European context.
The university was established under the terms of the Irish government's Technological Universities Act of 2018. One of the articles of this act mandates that technological universities establish strong research capacities, with a specific focus on applied research that is congruent with regional development plans. Facilitating the circulation of validated scholarly knowledge from the academy into the local economy – for the purposes of promoting sustainable growth – is one of the core strategic aims of ATU.
The open scholarship agenda is at the heart of ATU's research strategy. In September 2023 the university’s president, Dr Orla Flynn, signed the TU-NET Joint Statement of Open Research, along with the presidents of Ireland's four other TUs. The statement asserts "that fully applying the principles of openness, collaboration, and accessibility to the research process is key to achieving optimum research outcomes and will more effectively catalyse regional economic and social development.”
The work that went into agreeing and preparing this joint statement is an indication of ATU's commitment to working collaboratively with other Irish RPOs, both sectorally and nationally, to advance open research.
Another indication of this is ATU's close engagement with Ireland's National Open Research Forum. Staff from across the university participated in the working groups that led to the publication of Ireland’s National Action Plan for Open Research in November 2022, and it currently has members on the boards of two NORF-funded projects. The university is also a stakeholder in NORF's National Open Access Monitoring project.
As members of the EU Green Alliance of technological universities, ATU’s commitment to collaboration and strategic alliances extends from the sectoral and the national into the European context.
Goals and objectives
ATU’s goals in relation to open scholarship generally, and its membership in OpenAIRE specifically, are:
- To work towards the objective of having 100% open access by 2023, as per the NORF Action Plan.
- To have adequate staffing resources in place to advance open scholarship
- To embed principles of open scholarship in all library and research training initiatives
- To have the resources to provide expertise in data management plans
- To purchase and implement a fit-for-purpose research repository, fully integrated with PURE CRIS, and with the capacity to store research datasets
- To advance the strategic work of building a new greenfield, state-of-the-art research library building to advance open scholarship.
- To continue to deepen alliances and collaborations across the TU sector in Ireland, the RPO and HEI sector in Ireland, and with partners in Europe and globally.
Contact Info
Siobhán Conry
Services
ATU’s Research and Innovation Offices endeavour to support research that is carried out in collaboration with companies, communities, and other stakeholders in our region.
The university also supports researchers and research teams participating in large-scale international projects, which bring companies, communities, local authorities, and others from its region into extended networks of innovation and knowledge transfer.
The university’s research track record includes:
The university also supports researchers and research teams participating in large-scale international projects, which bring companies, communities, local authorities, and others from its region into extended networks of innovation and knowledge transfer.
The university’s research track record includes:
- Competing and winning international funding based on excellence and originality.
- Publishing at the highest levels in the peer-review system.
- Inventing and delivering to market innovative products, processes, and systems.
- Informing the design and delivery of its undergraduate teaching with the outputs of its Research, Innovations and Engagement (RIE) activities.
- Graduating externally examined Masters and PhD students.