£14.5 million investment in all-island research excellence

5 November 2008

Employment and Learning Minister, Sir Reg Empey, today announced that Northern Ireland’s universities are set to benefit from a £14.5 million research investment.

The investment will enable Queen’s University and the University of Ulster to develop and strengthen links with Republic of Ireland research groups through collaborative research which is socially and economically relevant, both to Northern Ireland and the island of Ireland as a whole.

The Minister said: “This strategic investment will allow our two universities to build additional and sustainable research capacity and capability that will contribute to the development of the ‘All Island Research Infrastructure’. This will be achieved through meaningful and appropriately targeted collaboration with leading research teams in the Republic of Ireland.

“Ten programmes have been approved for funding. All of these involve strategically focused R&D collaboration with major, internationally recognised research centres in the Republic of Ireland which offer complementary strengths to those already well established in Northern Ireland.”

Sir Reg explained that the aim is to create critical mass in areas of strategic interest to both Governments. He said that the approved activities will cover a wide range of priorities that will include Future Energy Systems, Mobile Information and Communication Technologies, Major Chronic Diseases and Infections, Functional Foods, Nutrition and Bone Health, and Safe and Traceable Food.

Professor Richard Barnett, Vice-Chancellor of the University of Ulster, said: “The University of Ulster projects which have been funded are in areas of vital strategic significance to the economic and social development of Northern Ireland. Advances in medical technology, bioengineering, energy efficiency and nutrition touch all our lives, and are at the heart of contemporary society.

"This endorsement of the international calibre of research teams on three of our campuses - Coleraine, Jordanstown and Magee -is an indication of the strength of research talent across the University, and a demonstration of the University's commitment to the research capacity of Northern Ireland as a whole."

Professor Peter Gregson, President and Vice-Chancellor of Queen’s University Belfast, said: “This important investment programme resulted from the submission by Queen’s and the University of Ulster to the Economic Development Forum. This funding is a crucial first step in expanding the science base that is essential for a successful and prosperous knowledge based economy.

“The Minister and the Executive are to be congratulated for implementing what I hope will be the first phase of a number of investments to maintain and enhance research excellence in Northern Ireland through the strengthening of the all-island research base.”

Sir Reg concluded: “A common thread within the projects is the creation of jointly supervised ‘split site’ PhD studentships. I believe that these studentships, being jointly supervised by the institutions in both jurisdictions, will further embed the ethos of cross-border research collaboration over the next decade and beyond.”

NOTES TO EDITORS:

The range of priorities covered by the approved activities include:
Mobile Information and Communication Technologies
Safe and Traceable Food
Diet, Obesity and Diabetes
Major Chronic Diseases and Infections
Medical Informatics
Innovative Systems for Enhanced Healthcare
Medical Devices
Tissue Engineering and Regenerative Medicine
Brain Diseases (including Alzheimer’s)
Functional Foods
Nutrition and Bone Health
Energy Storage and Future Energy Systems.
The funding, which is primarily sourced from the “Funding for Innovation” stream, will commence this year and run until 2011, after which it is envisaged that the programmes will become self sustaining through the leverage of external income from Research Councils, industry, charitable foundations and other funders of research such as the European Commission through its Framework Programme, and also the US-Ireland R&D Partnership.
The Republic of Ireland partner institutions include University College Dublin, Trinity College Dublin, Dublin City University, University College Cork, the National University of Ireland (Galway), the National University of Ireland (Maynooth) and University College Galway, as well as the Royal College of Surgeons in Ireland and the Institute of Public Health in Ireland.
The funding was allocated to Queen’s University Belfast and the University of Ulster on a competitive basis following a Call for Proposals which issued on 30^th June 2008.
Media queries to the Department for Employment and Learning Press Office on 028 9025 7872. Out of office hours please contact the Duty Press Officer via pager number 07699 715 440 and your call will be returned.
List of successful projects to be funded by this programme:

QUEEN’S UNIVERSITY BELFAST

Title

Mobile Wireless Futures: A Programme of Excellence for Ultra-high Speed Mobile Wireless Systems

Objective

To amalgamate complementary and interdisciplinary research expertise and skills sets across the three major centres of excellence within Ireland with the mission to challenge theoretical, conceptual and technological issues, and to derive innovations and enabling technologies, for the advancement of wireless communications for broadband mobile ubiquitous applications at Gigabit data rates for the benefit of the economy.

Partners

High Frequency Wireless Group, Queen’s University Belfast

Microwave Research Laboratory, University College Dublin

Microsystems Centre, Tyndall National Institute, University College Cork

Title

Centre for Food: ASsured, SafE and Traceable food (ASSET)

Objective

To harness scientific knowledge and know-how which exists on the island of Ireland and translate this into opportunities for improving the economic development of the agri-food sector.

Partners

Institute of Agri-Food and Land Use, Queen’s University Belfast

National Centre for Sensor Research, Dublin City University

Conway Institute and Earth Institute, University College Dublin

Prepared Food Department, Ashtown Food Research Centre

Title

Diet, Obesity and Diabetes

Objective

To bring together the leading research groups on the island of Ireland to provide a comprehensive all-island research centre to improve the primary and secondary prevention of obesity and diabetes.

Partners

School of Medicine, Dentistry and Biomedical Sciences, Queen’s University Belfast

Institute of Public Health in Ireland

The National Research Centre for Diet, Obesity and Diabetes, University College Cork

Title

Novel Therapeutics for Infections and Major Chronic Diseases

Objective

To help create an internationally competitive biomedical research consortium with maximum complementarity of scientific expertise, infrastructure and facilities, which will be used to develop and test novel therapies and vaccines for major diseases with obvious direct benefit to human health and the economy.

Partners

Centre for Infection and Immunity, Queen’s University Belfast

School of Biochemistry and Immunology and Moyne Institute of Preventative Medicine, Trinity College Dublin

School of Biomolecular and Biomedical Science, University College Dublin

Regenerative Medicine Institute and Department of Anesthesia, National University of Ireland, Galway

Title

Centre for Biomedical Informatics

Objective

To establish an All-Island Centre for Biomedical Informatics which will generate the critical mass essential for realising the era of “predictive medicine” and “personalised medicine” - potentially the most significant developments now emerging for future healthcare, with far reaching benefits for patients, doctors and the economy.

Partners

Centre for Cancer Research and Cell Biology and School of Medicine, Queen’s University Belfast

Gastrointestinal Research Unit and Conway Institute, University College Dublin

Molecular Genetics and Leukaemia Research Groups,Trinity College Dublin

Genome Informatics Research Group, University College Galway

Spatial Statistics and Statistical Image Analysis Research Groups, Dublin City University

Mathematical Modelling Group, National University of Ireland, Maynooth

Thoracic Oncology Group, St James’ Hospital, Dublin

Tissue Pathology and Biobanking, and Human Factors and Thoracic Oncology Groups, Beaumont Hospital, Dublin

Human Factors and Medical Training Group, Royal College of Surgeons in Ireland

Institute for Biomedical Informatics

UNIVERSITY OF ULSTER

Title

Energy Storage

Objective

To assess the extent to which the existing and future built environment can provide local energy storage and virtual bulk thermal and electrical energy storage for non-dispatchable small and large scale renewable energy in providing technology solutions as part of a holistic response to future energy systems in Ireland. A distinctive feature of this research proposal is that it is trans-disciplinary through the integration of a scientific study with the regulatory and planning frameworks to facilitate the development of a viable energy storage system and to develop potential new commercialisation opportunities.

Partners

Built Environment Research Institute, University of Ulster

Dublin Energy Laboratory, Dublin Institute of Technology

Energy Conversion Research Group, University College Dublin

National Institute for Regional and Spatial Analysis, National University of Ireland, Maynooth

Title

Cross-Border Centre for Intelligent Point of Care Sensors

Objective

To bring together critical expertise from a range of scientific disciplines to enable the transformation of sensors, nanofabrication and computing science into improved healthcare solutions and world class Intellectual Property. The centre will work closely with a range of industrial partners, including Randox and Almac, to translate collaborative science into clinical and market-led innovative products and systems for enhanced healthcare applications.

Partners

Nanotechnology and Integrated Bioengineering Centre, University of Ulster

Computer Science Research Institute, University of Ulster

Biomedical Diagnostics Institute, Dublin City University

Title

Functional Biomaterials

Objective

To develop a critical mass of research capacity and capability to address the clinical, commercial and academic challenges/opportunities of the global healthcare market, particularly in the key areas of medical devices, tissue engineering and regenerative medicine.

Partners

Nanotechnology and Integrated Bioengineering Centre, University of Ulster

National Centre for Biomedical Engineering Science, National University of Ireland, Galway

Title

Computational Neuroscience Research Team

Objective

To create sustainable mechanisms for strong, effective research collaboration involving the development of computational models for improved understanding of the brain and brain diseases, including Alzheimer’s Disease, the most common cause of dementia. There will be a focus on the development of significant Intellectual Property to benefit the biomedical and pharmaceutical industries, and other nascent industries including neuroinformatics and neurorobotics.

Partners

Intelligent Systems Research Centre, University of Ulster

Institute of Neuroscience, Trinity College Dublin

Centre for Bioengineering, Trinity College Dublin

Title

Irish Universities Nutrition Alliance Project: Building Additional and Sustainable Research Capacity in Nutrition and Bone Health at the University of Ulste

Objective

To establish an expert research capability for the study of nutrition and bone health aimed at identifying strategies to prevent osteoporosis, the crippling bone disease with major health, social and economic consequences currently costing European health services €30 billion. There will also be a focus on knowledge transfer to the local food industry and promoting innovation/creativity with respect to novel functional foods targeted at people with specific genotypes who are at risk of impaired bone health.

Partners

Northern Ireland Centre for Food and Health, University of Ulster

Department of Food and Nutritional Sciences, University College Cork

School of Biochemistry and Immunology, Trinity College Dublin

Institute of Food and Health, University College Dublin