HEFCE press release
27 May 1998
HEFCE funds leading edge research infrastructure in 48 universities and colleges
The Higher Education Funding Council for England (HEFCE) has contributed more than £55 million to 120 projects in 48 higher education institutions (HEIs) to fund the refurbishment of research laboratories.
This is the first year of a three-year initiative to support the physical infrastructure in English universities and colleges, so that they can continue to conduct high quality laboratory-based research. The Council expects institutions to provide matched funding and to show evidence of collaboration and sharing, where possible, between departments and with other HEIs.
Funds were allocated through a two-stage competitive bidding process. In total, 178 bids were submitted to the first stage and were reviewed by the relevant Research Councils. Of these, 120 bids went forward to stage two. All of these have been funded, on the recommendation of an advisory panel made up of representatives from the HEFCE Board, the CVCP and the Research Councils.
Successful bids ranged in size from £4.9 million to £4,800. Eleven awards were over £1 million and the average value of a successful bid was £460,000. No institution has received more than 10 per cent of its total research income for 1996-97.
Universities and colleges are now being consulted on the process before being invited to submit proposals for the next round of the initiative.
Examples of projects being funded under the scheme
Imperial College - Roboticised parallel synthesis: approaches to the discovery of novel bioactive molecules, catalysts and polymers (£1,648,500)
Cranfield University - Refurbishment of the School of Mechanical Engineering's gas turbine technology laboratories (£1,294,000)
University of East Anglia - Refurbishment of laboratory for computer representation and manipulation of sensory information (£75,000)
University of Sussex - The creation of purpose-built and integrated facilities for the Fullerene Science Centre, under Professor Sir Harold Kroto (£159,000)
University College London - Cold room complex for ice and climate research (£145,000)
University of Cambridge - Interdisciplinary materials processing laboratory (£1,103,500)
University of Bristol - Re-provision of synthetic chemistry laboratories (£4,956,000)
For further information please contact Philip Walker or Helen Buttery on 0117 931 7339.
Notes for editors
The complete list of projects funded by the HEFCE and DENI is attached in HEFCE 98/21 'Refurbishing research laboratories initiative 1998: Awards by the HEFCE and DENI'.
HEFCE 5/98
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