PN: 69/07
Issue date: 20 December 2007
The recipients of the fourth round of Science and Innovation Awards have been announced by the Engineering and Physical Sciences Research Council (EPSRC).
Funding has been awarded to build the UK’s research base in the areas of Analytical Science, Energy, Operational Research, Structural Ceramics and Tribology.
EPSRC, together with the Higher Education Funding Council for England (HEFCE), the Scottish Funding Council (SFC) and the Higher Education Funding Council for Wales (HEFCW), will fund 5 new programmes with a value of £23 million.
Science and Innovation Awards were introduced by EPSRC in 2005 to support strategic areas of research that are particularly at risk. In a changing research landscape, as undergraduates choose new options, more traditional core subjects are encountering declining numbers of entrants. This in turn affects the base of academic staff in our universities, which impacts on the nation’s capacity to produce the well-trained people and research leaders of tomorrow.
The 5 awards have been made to the following universities:
- University of Warwick (Analytical Science)
- University of Edinburgh and Heriot-Watt University (Energy)
- Lancaster University, University of Nottingham, Cardiff University and
University of Southampton (Operational Research)
- Imperial College London (Structural Ceramics)
- University of Southampton (Tribology)
The projects will create new centres of research activity in their respective fields in existing research environments that are encouraging and supportive of innovative approaches. These centres will have the critical mass to make major research progress. They will aim to stimulate research in the UK and international community and, where appropriate, to encourage innovation in UK business and industry. They will increase the output of trained scientists in their respective science areas.