A year of outstanding research success
Posted on 17 July 1997
New research grants totalling £3,212,450 were announced at a meeting of the University of York's Council on 17 July, in a further boost to a year of outstanding success in research. The University's high scores in the official Research Assessment Exercise in December were followed by the third highest funding settlement in the UK. Three major scientific discoveries - in the areas of oestrogen-related illness, cervical cancer and bone cell communication - announced during the year were followed by a record eight ROPA (Realising Our Potential) awards from the DTI in June.
New grants include:
- £15,000 from the Department for Education and Employment for a project of 'skills development' in Chemistry. The project will involve development of curriculum material for use throughout higher education which will build students' knowledge base and help them develop professional skills. Based on case studies, the learning packages will focus on real-life problems like building a manufacturing plant or replacing a catalyst in a chemical process. Skills developed will include commercial awareness, information management, critical thinking, independence, communication and group working. This project is also attracting funding from other sources. The grant holders are Dr John Garratt and Dr Simon Duckett in Chemistry.
- £5,400 from the Department of National Heritage for a UK database on parks and gardens. This project is establishing a massive database of historic parks and gardens across Britain. Profiles will be built of a particular designer's work drawn from examples across the country and the database allows all those with a professional interest in this area of heritage to research garden designs and types. The grant holder is Mr David Jacques in the Centre for the Conservation of Historic Parks and Gardens.
- £163,871 from British Aerospace to study aircraft cockpit automation. The grant holder is Professor Michael Harrison in the Department of Computer Science's Human-Computer Interaction research group.
- £40,0000 from the Economic and Social Research Fund for a support programme for ex-defence sector workers. This is a two-part project designed to find eligible people who used to work in defence-related industries and provide training. The University is working with local authorities and TECs and the project is supported by the European Union KONVER initiative which provides help for regions adjusting to defence cuts. The grant holder is Nick Hooper in the Centre for Defence Economics.
- £59,600 from Porta Systems for a telephone fault finding system demonstrator. The grant holder is Dr Jim Austin in the Department of Computer Science.
A full list of the 56 most recent grants is available from:
Hilary Layton
Press and Public Relations Office
Tel 01904 432029
Fax 01904 434466
email: hrl1@york.ac.uk.