Research Councils UK (RCUK) has announced £12 million of funding for collaborations
between British universities and institutions in China, India and the US.
The awards include a UK-Indian research project which aims to deliver sustainable
decentralised bioenergy for both the developed and developing world.
The three-year, £3 million grant, co-funded by RCUK and the Indian Department
of Science and Technology, has been made to Aston University and the Indian Institute
of Technology, Delhi. The project, which will focus on bioenergy technology and
business solutions for both countries, will grow biomass using wasteland and wastewater
in order to provide energy for heating in the UK and energy for cold storage and
food processing in India.
Lord Drayson, Minister of State for Science and Innovation, said: "The RCUK Science
Bridges Awards are an excellent example of how the UK is encouraging research which
has both strong international collaborations and close links with business.
"By working with international partners we can benefit from their expertise and
get more value from our investment in the UK's world class research community. These
collaborations have the potential to provide solutions to important challenges facing
the UK and the world, in areas such as sustainable biofuels, food and water security
and healthcare."
Other RCUK Science Bridges awards approved this year are a UK-China consortium
looking at new developments in high-speed, secure internet communications and a
project by Manchester University and Boston (US) looking into new healthcare technologies.
Professor Ian Diamond, RCUK Chair, said: "We would like to congratulate the award
winners. The UK already participates in a huge amount of collaborative research
globally and we hope UK businesses and the wider global community will reap the
economic and environmental benefits arising from these research partnerships."
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Notes for editors
Contact
Chloë Somers, RCUK Press Officer
01793 444592
chloe.somers@rcuk.ac.uk
SCIENCE BRIDGES AWARD WINNERS
UK institution press office contact details below where available.
- Queen’s University Belfast and Tsinghua and Zhejiang Universities in China:
UK-China Science Bridge in Sustainable Energy and Built Environment
http://gow.epsrc.ac.uk/ViewGrant.aspx?GrantRef=EP/G042594/1
Contact: Lisa Mitchell, 028 9097 5384
- Heriot-Watt University, University of Edinburgh, University of Bristol,
University of Southampton, University of Bedfordshire, University College London
and 13 Chinese consortium members including 7 universities and 6 companies.:
UK-China Science Bridges: R&D on 4G Wireless Mobile Communications
ttp://gow.epsrc.ac.uk/ViewGrant.aspx?GrantRef=EP/G042713/1
Contact (UCL): Ruth Metcalfe, 020 7679 9739
- Lancaster University and several labs in China: Water availability and
quality: natural environments, domestic use and food production
http://gow.epsrc.ac.uk/ViewGrant.aspx?GrantRef=EP/G042683/1
Contact: Beth Broomby, 01524 593719
- University of Bradford and various Chinese partner institutions: Science
Bridges: Bradford-China Programme for Pharmaceutical Sciences and Medical Technology
http://gow.epsrc.ac.uk/ViewGrant.aspx?GrantRef=EP/G042365/1
Contact: Emma Banks, 01274 233089
- University of Aston and Indian Institute of Technology, Delhi: Bioenergy:
Technology and Business Solutions for the UK
http://gow.epsrc.ac.uk/ViewGrant.aspx?GrantRef=EP/G039992/1
Contact: Alex Earnshaw, 0121 204 4549
- University of Leeds and Indian Institute of Science, Bangalore and Indian
Agricultural Research Institute: Sustainable Indo-UK Agricultural Initiative
http://gow.epsrc.ac.uk/ViewGrant.aspx?GrantRef=EP/G039496/1
Contact: 0113 343 4031
- University of Nottingham and Indian Institute of Technology Kanpur and Indian
Institute of Management, Bangalore: Biopharm 2020: Entrepreneurial Opportunities
for Indian/UK Scientists in the Pharmaceutical and Biotechnology Industries
http://gow.epsrc.ac.uk/ViewGrant.aspx?GrantRef=EP/G039933/1
Contact: Lindsay Brooke, 0115 951 5793
- University of Cambridge and University of California at Santa Barbara:
Harnessing Materials for Energy
http://gow.epsrc.ac.uk/ViewGrant.aspx?GrantRef=EP/G042330/1
Contact: Genevieve Maul, 01223 332300
- Universities of Strathclyde, St. Andrews, Heriot-Watt and Glasgow and California
(Stanford and Caltech): Stanford-Scotland Photonics Innovation Collaboration
http://gow.epsrc.ac.uk/ViewGrant.aspx?GrantRef=EP/G042446/1
Contact (Strathclyde): Paul Gallagher, 0141 548 2370
- University of Manchester and CIMIT Boston: Innovative Technology for
healthcare delivery
http://gow.epsrc.ac.uk/ViewGrant.aspx?GrantRef=EP/G041733/1
Contact: Aeron Haworth, 0161 275 8387
Background to the awards
The first Science Bridges was funded by UK Government in 2006 to support existing
collaborations between the UK and USA by taking research results towards commercialisation
and undertaking proof of concept studies. They have now been extended to include
the emerging super-economies of China and India.
This set of awards has been made to UK institutions with extant research links
with the US, China and India to accelerate the deployment of research knowledge,
deepen and strengthen current research links, enable the acquisition of new skills
and encourage wealth creation through improving the transfer of research and expertise
from the research base to businesses and other users by building science and innovation
bridges with world-class universities and high-tech businesses.
The RCUK funding is being boosted with some additional funding coming from the
three partner countries involved. Each country can receive awards up to a total
value of £4 million over three years. Four UK-China, three UK-India and three UK-US
collaborations have been awarded funding this time.
Funding information
The Indian Department of Science and Technology (DST) is actively partnering
Research Councils UK in supporting Science Bridge partnerships and will provide
the financial resource (up to £4 million matching the support to UK Institutions)
to the partner Indian Institutions of the successful applications.
The FCO Science and Innovation Network in the US will offer the opportunity to
Full Proposal stage applicants to apply for financial assistance (Research Exploitation
Development Awards) to enable them to develop proposals with their US partners.
The Network will also work with Full Proposal stage applicants who are unsuccessful
in winning a Science Bridge award to help them explore opportunities for strengthening
UK-US collaboration via other routes
For Science Bridges with China, the Ministry of Science and Technology (MOST)
in China has agreed to work with RCUK in the selection process and in seeking to
leverage resources for the Chinese partner institutions.
Research Councils UK
The seven Research Councils are independent non-departmental public bodies, funded
by the Science and Research Budget through the Department of Innovation, Universities
and Skills (DIUS). They are incorporated by Royal Charter and together manage a
research budget of around £3 billion a year. Research Councils UK (RCUK) is the
partnership between the UK's seven Research Councils. Through RCUK, the Research
Councils work together to champion the research, training and innovation they support.
The seven UK Research Councils are:
- Arts & Humanities Research Council (AHRC)
- Biotechnology & Biological Sciences Research Council (BBSRC)
- Economic & Social Research Council (ESRC)
- Engineering & Physical Sciences Research Council (EPSRC)
- Medical Research Council (MRC)
- Natural Environment Research Council (NERC)
- Science & Technology Facilities Council (STFC)