News story

HEFCE: Science and Innovation Awards

Fri 2nd Feb, 2007

The recipients of the third 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 Mathematical Analysis, Renewable Energy, Chemical Engineering at the Life Sciences Interface, Quantum Coherence, and Physical Organic Chemistry.

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 7 new programmes with a value of over £31 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 7 awards have been made to the following universities:


  • University of Oxford

  • University of Edinburgh and Heriot-Watt University

  • Cardiff University

  • University of Sheffield

  • Universities of Strathclyde and Glasgow

  • Universities of Cambridge and Oxford and Imperial College London

  • Universities of Birmingham and Nottingham

Further details:

http://www.hefce.ac.uk/news/hefce/2006/siawards.htm