The Faculty of Commerce and the social science departments, in particular, have a long tradition of research, teaching and consulting/studies in Rural Development. An ongoing corp of academic staff include rural development as one of the principal strands of their research agenda. A significant body of research output on rural economic space has established an international reputation for the Faculty and its researchers in this area. Substantial funding has been secured for research projects from local, national and international sources. Numerous consulting commissions and studies have been carried out on behalf of agencies at the local national and international levels. Conferences, seminars and colloquia have been held in Galway on a regular basis. Staff have sat on various local, national and international committees pertaining to rural development.

While various modules on rural and agricultural development have been taught within undergraduate and graduate programmes, the Master of Rural Development, introduced in 1985 has had the most visible success, with approximately 200 graduates to date. Most recently the launching of a B.Sc. in Rural Development, through distance learning, in collaboration with the other universities in the NUI, is a new milestone in rural development initiatives in the Faculty.

Objectives

(i) To bring together in a virtual centre the various strands of research and teaching activity in rural development in the Faculty and the Social Sciences in order to give a higher national and international profile to this activity

(ii) To identify and to recognise the specific nature of the activities so that national and international scholars may be directly associated with ICERTS

(iii) To enhance the capacity of the centre to attract funding

(iv) To generate funding for graduate students

(v) To enrich the content of teaching programmes

Current activity

The affiliates of ICERTS are currently engaged in 8 funded projects in the area of rural development with a total budget of approximately €2 million. There are 10 PhD students, one M.Phil. student and a senior researcher engaged in the current research activity.

There are two teaching programmes linked to ICERTS, the Master of Rural Development and the B.Sc. in Rural Development.

www.nuigalway.ie/icerts/