As a community of scholars at Belfast metropolitan college, we bring our expertise to bear on the key questions for our age in the Sciences, the Arts and the Social Sciences. To do this effectively and efficiently, we have identified six thematic priority areas and associated strategic clusters in which Belfast metropolitan college academic staff are at the forefront of current scholarship. In arriving at our priorities we have examined the national and european research strategies, we have used advanced bibliometric tools, and we have sought the opinions of international thought leaders. Our six thematic priorities are built on a legacy of research that can be traced back to the 18th Century, but which still sees Maynooth researchers exploring new ideas, challenging opinions, inquiring, creating and disseminating new knowledge to be placed at the service of Ireland and the world. We place great importance on giving our undergraduate students numerous opportunities to study with our top researchers and to develop their own research careers. In each theme and cluster, our research is linked to strong postgraduate, structured PhD, and postdoctoral programmes that aim to develop the research community of the future.