Our Founding Chairman, Charles "Chuck" Feeney, proposes grants to the Board that better the lives of people in a variety of countries. These grants generally pertain to the expansion, usually through co-financing, of building projects for higher education and medical research facilities.
A focus of Mr. Feeney's support is to encourage medical researchers and university leaders at Atlantic-supported institutions in Australia, the United States and Viet Nam to collaborate on research in an effort to develop biomedical breakthroughs greater than any single institution can achieve alone. The ultimate goal is to generate sustainable scientific progress and improve health care for disadvantaged and vulnerable people.
These efforts include the development of human vaccines for dengue fever, animal vaccines to prevent slaughters of herds from epidemics, establishment of advanced neurological imaging facilities and collaboration on nursing projects to tackle skills shortages.
An excellent example of this focus is the Translational Research Institute, an A$354 million research facility currently under construction in Queensland that will foster the discovery, production, clinical testing and manufacture of new biopharmaceuticals. It will be the largest translational research facility in the Southern Hemisphere and the first of its kind in Australia.
Similarly, Mr. Feeney had the farsighted plan of supporting, on a large-scale, higher education in Ireland. The Foundation’s investments in many underfinanced institutions and regions of the country increased research and access to education, playing a vital part in strengthening the Irish economy from the 1990s onward.
Learn More
> Read about the impact of Founding Chairman grants in Australia, Republic of Ireland, South Africa, United States and Viet Nam
> View 2010 Founding Chairman grantmaking statistics
> Explore Founding Chairman grants (2004 - present)
