Seven Scottish universities are to benefit from £7.7 million from the Scottish Higher Education Funding Council (SHEFC) to develop Scotland's research base.

After a rigorous competition for the funds ﾖ 52 bids seeking £68 million ﾖ an external advisory panel, including international assessors, considered each proposal. The successful bids are all collaborative projects and for the University of Glasgow are:

Centre for Public Policy for Regions ﾖ Universities of Glasgow and Strathclyde to receive £954,397;

Genetic Health in the 21st Century ﾖ Universities of Edinburgh, Aberdeen, Dundee, Glasgow and St Andrews to receive £1,793,744;

Research Consortium in Speckled Computing ﾖ Universities of Edinburgh, Napier, St Andrews, Glasgow and Strathclyde to receive £1,343,186;

Scottish Integrated Research in Timber ﾖ Napier and Glasgow Universities to receive £1,199,165.

Commenting on the new grant, Roger McClure, Chief Executive of SHEFC said: "The successful bids support national policies and priority needs in Scotland. All of the successful proposals are collaborative projects and show the levels of international excellence that can be achieved by Scotland's Universities working together. The calibre and volume of proposals is excellent news for Scotland."

The funding of the projects will start at the beginning of the new academic year (2003-04) for four years.

Media Relations Office (media@gla.ac.uk)

The universities, working in six groups, will be given funds from SHEFC?s new Strategic Research Development Grant (SRDG), the purpose of which is to strengthen areas of academic research that are of importance to Scotland, but do not receive funding or major levels of funding; and to create opportunities to bring together existing strengths to continue to improve research quality and resources.

The Scottish Higher Education Funding Council (SHEFC) is a non-departmental public body which supports the maintenance and further development of Scottish higher education institutions. SHEFC distributes more than ?700 million each year of public money to 20 higher education institutions (HEIs) in Scotland for teaching and research.

For further information please visit www.shefc.ac.uk

More detailed background on SRDG awards for University of Glasgow are available from the Press Office on 0141 330 3535 or email j.hodgson@admin.gla.ac.uk

First published: 8 August 2003