Industry Research, Collaboration + Spin Outs

The Media Cube works very closely with IADT’s Research Office, which enables start-up entrepreneurs and more established businesses the opportunity to tap into IADT’s niche areas of research expertise. 

Research is carried out across all five academic departments at IADT, and is a core component of IADT’s mission and strategy.

We pride ourselves on our track record and experience in a range of creative, technological and entrepreneurial fields, especially where they intersect with design, behaviour and contemporary challenges around climate change, equality, globalisation and the smart economy. 

Our experts specialise in areas such as computer science, visual communications, human-computer interaction, psychology, film, animation, and engineering, and work collaboratively across disciplinary boundaries and in understanding today’s opportunities and challenges in the creative industries.  IADT is home to strong research communities, encompassing staff and postgraduate research students, in art, cyberpsychology, visual culture, new media, entrepreneurship and management experimental and speculative design, and a range of areas in the humanities including Irish literature. This is reflected in a vibrant student research culture at undergraduate and postgraduate levels, some of which can be found in and alongside our annual exhibition of graduate work. 

IADT researchers lead or contribute to a range of collaborative, cutting-edge projects funded by the European Union (Horizon 2020 and Erasmus+), the Irish Research Council, the Royal Dublin Society, the Higher Education Authority, and others. Current and recent examples include SoPHIA (Social Platform for Holistic Heritage Impact Assessment), TREND (Training Refugees in Entrepreneurial skills using Digital Devices), InterACT (Intercultural Action Competence Tool for international youth projects), and the Creative Cognition Framework.  

Through being one of the four institutions making up the new European universities alliance  FilmEU, we are exploring new frontiers in research and development in film and media arts, including VR/AR, film heritage, and immersive sound. Our new Public Design Lab explores design for social good, ensuring the needs of those who are underserved or overlooked can have access to the newest design methodologies and technologies to solve their problems and improve life for everyone in our wider communities.