Additional higher education initiatives announced
15 December 2008
Employment and Learning Minister, Sir Reg Empey, today announced funding for two significant cross border research projects which will have a positive effect on the Northern Ireland economy.
As part of the Executive’s response to the economic downturn, programmes which are expected to benefit the economy and society as a whole have been identified. Sir Reg said: “The two cross border research projects identified have the potential to generate real long term gain. Tangible results are within our grasp and the likely job creation and foreign and direct investment the projects will attract will benefit our economy in both the short and long term.”
The projects, both of which are partnered by Queen’s University, Belfast, will receive just under £3m in total. The projects are the building of an internationally recognised all-Island Research Centre in sustainable engineering and manufacturing and the development of new treatment options for cancer sufferers.
The Minister concluded: “The Executive has always claimed that the economy is its number one priority and now is the time to illustrate our words with actions. We must all show our commitment to underpinning the economy here and these projects will undoubtedly help achieve this goal.”
NOTES TO EDITORS:
1. The two projects which have been agreed by the Executive are:
Improving the Sustainability of Transport Using Advanced Composites and Digital Manufacturing
Objective
To build an internationally recognised all-Island Research Centre with leading research capability and capacity in computational science for sustainable design, manufacture and materials, with the leadership to develop all-Island collaborative research which will reinforce the Island’s advanced engineering and manufacturing capacity. This will enable industry to take advantage of the performance and sustainable attributes of advanced composite materials in transport engineering and other applications, and a key element of this proposal will be to engage with industry and facilitate knowledge and capability transfer.
Partners
School of Mechanical and Aerospace Engineering, Queen’s University Belfast
Composites Research Centre, University of Limerick
Enterprise Process Research Centre, Dublin City University
Mechanical Engineering, Trinity College Dublin
Cancer Medicinal Chemistry Initiative (CMCI)
Objective
To strengthen significantly the Island’s capacity and capability to address the bottleneck in the drug discovery pipeline. The CMCI will bring complementary all-Island research strengths together to identify chemical entities that have desirable biological, physical and pharmacological properties. As a result, essential new treatment options in cancers with high incidence and poor prognosis will be developed.
Partners
Centre for Cancer Research and Cell Biology, Queen’s University Belfast
Schools of Biochemistry and Immunology, and of Chemistry, Trinity College Dublin
2. 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.
