RCUK Science Bridges Awards

17 Feb 2009

Swindon, UK, February 13 - 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."

The ten winners include:

Stanford-Scotland Photonics Innovation Collaboration
Universities of Strathclyde, St. Andrews, Heriot-Watt and Glasgow and California (Stanford and Caltech).
Contact (Strathclyde): Paul Gallagher, 0141 548 2370.

Harnessing Materials for Energy
University of Cambridge and University of California at Santa Barbara
Contact: Genevieve Maul, 01223 332300.