The National Open Research Forum (NORF) is pleased to announce the funding of four open research networks under the 2025 NORF Open Research Fund:

• Diamond Capacity Hub Ireland
• Open Repositories Ireland
• Sonraí, Irish Data Stewardship Network
• TROPIC

These networks were initially supported as projects through the 2022 NORF Open Research Fund and have demonstrated significant progress in advancing priority actions outlined in the National Action Plan for Open Research 2022-2030. The networks are comprised of inter-institutional collaborations from across the higher education sector.

About the 2025 NORF Open Research Fund

The NORF Open Research Fund is provided by the Department of Further and Higher Education, Research, Innovation and Science through the Higher Education Authority. The funds are administered by the Digital Repository of Ireland as the coordinating organisation for NORF, headquartered under the Royal Irish Academy.

The 2025 NORF Open Research Fund was a targeted call aimed at existing networks formed in response to the implementation of priority actions funded under the 2022 scheme. This new round of support reflects NORF’s recognition of the value of prior investments and its commitment to enabling these networks to transition from grant-funded projects to self-sustaining entities.

This investment directly addresses Action A3.4 of the National Action Plan for Open Research 2022–2030, which sets out a role for NORF to “support institutional and community networks for open research.” By continuing to fund the selected networks, NORF aims to strengthen the collaborative foundations of open research in Ireland and support long-term impact.

Dr Michelle Doran, NORF National Open Research Coordinator said:

‘We are delighted to support these four national networks. Each brings together talented people and institutions committed to making research more transparent, equitable, and impactful. By investing in their continued growth, we are strengthening the foundations for a sustainable and inclusive open research system that will benefit Ireland’s research community and society as a whole.’

The successful networks were selected following a peer review process conducted by an expert international panel. All project network funding commenced on 1 September 2026 and has a duration of 12 months. A full list of project networks is available below.

Networks Funded 

2025 Network: Open Repositories Ireland

Host Institution: University of Galway

Lead Applicant: Dr Cillian Joy

2022 Project: Open Access Repository Assessment and Alignment

This project brought together higher education institutions and governmental partners to conduct a national programme of repository alignment to deliver standardised metadata nationally while building infrastructure in line with international best practices. The main aim of this project was to create a robust and standardised approach to national interoperability of Irish repositories, which in turn provides a streamlined gateway to international research platforms positioning Irish Open Access research for a global audience. This was delivered through the publishing of several significant reports and case studies such as ‘Advancing Ireland’s Open Repository Landscape: A Strategic Roadmap’, developing community guidance for OpenAIRE v4 implementation and launching Open Repositories Ireland (ORI). The network will now deliver a defined work stream of ORI, sustaining and extending ORI’s role in national alignment and capacity-building. It combines targeted onboarding support for open repositories, particularly for DSpace platforms, with a work package on ORI governance to strengthen the network’s structure and integration with national stakeholders.

2025 Network: Diamond Capacity Hub Ireland

Host Institution: Technological University of the Shannon

Lead Applicant: Dr Frank Houghton

2022 Project: Open Access Transition Programme

This project engaged extensively with partners in the national and international scholarly publishing communities to conduct a feasibility study and pilot with a view to establishing a national platform for Diamond Open Access publication of journals and books. This project, by adopting international advisory governance structures and international benchmarking, aimed to support and advance the ambition of Impact 2030 that Ireland become “an international model of best practice” in open research. The projects key outputs of a digital directory of publishers and the PublishOA Landscape Report, that maps the current state of scholarly publishing across Ireland, showcase the advancement towards this aim. A sustainable network is now being created to support Diamond OA publishing. Building on Publish OA’s groundwork from 2022- 2025, this network aims to establish an all-island collaboration empowering Irish academic communities, libraries and publishers to sustainably manage scholarly communication and protect bibliodiversity in the public interest.

2025 Network: TROPIC

Host Institution: Maynooth University

Lead Applicant: Dr Dermot Lynott

2022 Project: Open Research Training Programme

This project brought together researchers and librarians across higher education institutions, representing disciplines including science and engineering, social sciences and the humanities, in a consortium with expertise in the provision of research support and training. A national open research training programme was developed to enable researchers at all stages of their career to upskill in open research practices, strengthening Ireland’s open research ecosystem in a sustainable way. The TROPIC network will build on the programme by further developing training materials and the national network of open research trainers, the Irish Reproducibilty Network (IRN) as well as creating an accreditation pathway for TROPIC participants and formalising and expanding the IRN, to include all Irish research institutions. In summary, this network will aim to advance Ireland’s capacity for sustainable, high-quality open research training and support the long-term process of research culture change in Ireland.

2025 Network: Sonraí

Host Institution: HEAnet

Lead Applicant: Jenny O’Neill

2022 Project: National Data Stewardship Network

Sonraí the Irish Data Stewardship Network was established as a result of the NORF 2022 Open Research funded- National Data Stewardship Network, as a priority action in Ireland’s National Action Plan for Open Research 2022-2030. Sonraí now aims to enable the development of data stewardship skills across the national research landscape through raising the profile of data stewards, giving greater recognition to the need for data stewardship, professionalisation of the role of data stewards and knowledge development throughout the emerging community. By building these skills nationally, the project partners aim to ensure the curation, preservation and dissemination of national data assets and the continued growth and development of the Irish open research landscape

The National Open Research Forum is a Government of Ireland initiative, funded by the Department of Further and Higher Education, Research, Innovation and Science, through the Higher Education Authority