Lero, the Science Foundation Ireland Research Centre for Software, is to expand its research capacity and skills base with the addition of Limerick Institute of Technology (LIT) as an academic partner.

Hosted by University of Limerick (UL) Lero currently brings together expert software teams, from universities and institutes of technology across Ireland, in a co-ordinated centre of research excellence with a strong industry focus.

Director of Lero, Professor Brian Fitzgerald, said; “Ireland needs every asset it can muster to maintain its position as the global leader in software exports and development. Lero’s mission is to cultivate the finest researchers, enabling them to do the best work possible. The addition of the Limerick Institute of Technology to the Lero team gives us even greater momentum in the years ahead.”

LIT Vice President Research, Development and Innovation, Dr Liam Brown, said the institute is looking forward to working with and evolving with Lero.

“To be the best, you must partner with the best. We have the people in place who are already doing world-class research. Now we can leverage those resources and align them with Lero to get better outcomes for everyone,” he added.

Founded in 2005 with four universities working on the theme of software engineering research. This has now grown to 12 higher-education institutes (HEIs) including LIT (Trinity College Dublin, University College Dublin, University College Cork, NUI Galway, Maynooth University, Dublin City University, Dundalk Institute of Technology, Institute of Technology Tralee, Cork Institute of Technology, Waterford Institute of Technology and its host UL).