Mission
     
    The primary mission of the Maynooth University Social Sciences Institute (MUSSI) is to support and to scale the fundamental and applied social scientific research which is currently taking place across the Faculty of Social Sciences at Maynooth University and more broadly across the campus.
     
    MUSSI will oversee the development of social scientific research that centres upon two of the University's six priority research themes People, Place and Environment and Social and Economic Transformations, it will develop a number of associated critical national data infrastructures including the All-Island Research Observatory (AIRO), the Irish Qualitative Data Archive (IQDA), and Digital Repository Ireland (DRI) and it will incubate the University’s new and innovative Education Workspace. 
     
    Specifically, MUSSI will:

    • Promote high quality social science research publication and output which is judged by peers to be of international standing 
    • Build research management capacity and assist social science researchers as they compete for major research grants and bid for inclusion in major research programmes 
    • Support research projects which make a significant contribution to the enrichment of public debate on topics of national and international concern 
    • Support applied research projects (including projects which co-produce knowledge with key stakeholders) which make a significant contribution to the development of public policy and/or commerce
    • Foster interdisciplinary research focused on the university’s priority research themes and clusters 
    • Support social scientific research by creating and developing shared research infrastructures
    • Host conferences, workshops, summer schools, and international visitors, so as to contribute to the development of a rich and vibrant scholarly community across the campus 
    • Mentor researchers and scholars at all career stages to build the future research leadership of the university
    • Develop and deliver (in partnership with the Faculty of Social Sciences) structured graduate training modules, including interdisciplinary modules
    • Communicate to external and internal audiences the scale, and quality of social scientific research at Maynooth University and in particular offer clear routes for external partners (international/European Union, government agencies national, local and regional, industry and private consultancy, NGOs, voluntary and community organisations) to develop research collaborations with Maynooth based researchers