£1.1m boost for Scottish university research

20 Dec 2000

Seven Scottish universities are set to benefit from Government grants for science totalling nearly £1,120,000, Scotland Office Minister Brian Wilson said today.

Welcoming the new grants for state of the art research equipment, which are made under Competition A of the Joint Research Equipment Initiative 2000, Mr Wilson said:

"The Government is determined that universities across the UK should have the resources to continue to reach the very highest standards in teaching and research. Scottish universities have a world wide reputation for pioneering scientific research and I am delighted that Aberdeen, Glasgow, Dundee, Strathclyde, Stirling, Edinburgh and St Andrew’s universities will all be receiving a further boost today.

"This round of awards follows the announcement earlier this month of a £125 million investment in science projects, benefiting both Edinburgh and Glasgow Univerities. As our economy becomes increasingly knowledge driven it is vital that we continue to invest in science and today’s funding announcement will help to ensure that the UK stays at the forefront of scientific research."

NOTES FOR EDITORS

  1. The Joint Research Equipment Initiative (JREI) was launched in 1996 by the Office for Science and Technology and higher education funding bodies with the aim of contributing to the physical research infrastructure and enabling high-quality research to be undertaken with the investment.
  2. The JREI is run as two competitions:
  • Competition A is run and funded by five of the Research Councils Biotechnology and Biological Sciences Research Council (BBSRC), Engineering and Physical Sciences Research Council (EPSRC), Medical Research Council (MRC), Natural Environment Research Council (NERC) and Particle Physics and Astronomy Research Council (PPARC) for bids requesting up to £150,000 from the JREI.
  • Competition B is funded by the four Higher Education funding bodies (HEFCE, HEFCW, SHEFC, DHFETE for research equipment requesting more than £150,000 form the JREI.

The Research Councils peer review the applications for both competitions.