Biography
Dr. Kevin Mulligan is a Post-Doctoral Researcher at the Department of Economics, Kemmy Business School (KBS), University of Limerick. He is an applied economist, whose research interests include the economics of innovation and science policy, and evaluating the impact of public funding for Research and Development (R&D) on firm-level outcomes (e.g. innovative new products and processes, exports, value added, employment growth).Since 2019, Dr. Mulligan has worked on a research project titled Evaluating the impact of innovation and science policy on the economy and society: A national evaluation and international benchmarking of innovation and science policy in Ireland, as part of Prof Helena Lenihan's research group. This project is funded by Science Foundation Ireland, under its Science Policy Research Programme. As part of this project, Dr. Mulligan co-authored a paper published in the academic journal Research Policy, the leading journal in the field of innovation studies. This study focuses on evaluating the impact of firm collaborations with publicly-funded research centres, on firms' R&D investment. An earlier version of this paper won the Best Paper award in SME Growth and Performance: Quantitative Perspectives, at the 2019 Institute for Small Business and Entrepreneurship (ISBE) conference.
In 2015 Dr. Mulligan was one of four PhD students in Ireland awarded a Postgraduate Scholarship in Science Policy and Innovation offered by the Irish Research Council (IRC) and Science Foundation Ireland (SFI) following a competitive open-call.
Dr. Mulligan recieved the Regional Studies Association award for the best paper published in the journal Regional Studies, Regional Science in 2020, for a study co-authored with KBS colleague Dr. Marta Zieba (see: https://www.regionalstudies.org/funding/awards-2021/).
Dr. Mulligan is committed to the concept of achieving policy impact from quality academic research. Since beginning his PhD research, Dr. Mulligan has worked collaboratively as part of a research team to reach project goals, producing several co-authored studies. In 2018, his research with colleagues was cited by the European Commission (Research and Innovation Observatory 2017 Country Report: Ireland). In 2019, the Irish Senate's Public Consultation Committee Report on Small and Medium Sized Businesses in Ireland, also cited Dr. Mulligan's research. In addition, Dr. Mulligan has presented his co-authored research to key Irish policymakers in Department of Enterprise, Trade and Employment (by invitation), as well as Irish and international policymakers in Science Foundation Ireland.