About us

The mission of the Geary Institute is to foster research excellence and relevance and specifically to:

  • Develop frontier methods of investigation, leading to the very best in research publication.
  • Enhance the international profile and ranking of Geary’s researchers.
  • Play a central role in the training of the next generation of social scientists and facilitate the interaction between researchers of excellence and the graduate students.
  • Highlight the importance and relevance of Geary’s research through interaction with policymakers and the wider society.

Founded in 1999, the Geary Institute received funding from the Higher Education Authority and private donors under cycles 1 and 3 of the Programme for Research in Third Level Institutions. The total funding committed was €6.5 million. A large part of the allocated funding in Cycle 1 was used to construct and equip a new Institute building, which became operational in January 2002.

In 2005, the Institute was renamed in honour of Roy Geary (1896–1983), a UCD graduate and social scientist whose seminal research in the area of statistics, economics, demography and national accounting remains to this day, central to study in these fields.

Within a few years of establishment the Institute attained a strong reputation in Ireland and Europe and has a growing international reputation as a centre of excellence in microeconomics, quantitative social sciences and behavioural social science, leveraging the concept of Ireland as a unique laboratory for evidence-based policy formation.

Geary summary page (PDF)

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