YESI Director, Professor Sue Hartley, appointed Interim Director of the N8 Agri-Food Resilience Programme
Hosted by the University of York, the programme will strengthen research capacity across the region in three key areas; sustainable food production, resilient supply chains, improved nutrition and consumer behaviour.
The £16 million pound programme is the result of almost £8 million pounds support from the Higher Education Funding Council for England (HEFCE) and the investment of all eight research intensive Universities.
The programme will continue N8's excellent track record of business and social engagement to help deliver world-class research and the evidence base for innovations and interventions that can deliver better, more sustainable, more secure food systems. Through the programme, the N8 aims to combine world-leading crop and livestock research - plus the facilities offered by six experimental farms across the N8 universities - with the partnership institutions’ vast expertise in social sciences, including business and management, to create a single research initiative focused on ensuring the stability of national and global agri-food supply chains.
Together, the N8 universities have an impressive track record in agri-food science, with more than 370 researchers working on projects in this area and a portfolio of £269 million of research funding over the last six years. Professor Sue Hartley's own track record of working across disciplines will be extremely important as the programme moves forward.
The permanent Director's position will be advertised in the near future as will other directorate positions in administration and business development and operations.
Notes to editors:
The N8 Universities are Durham, Lancaster, Leeds, Liverpool, Manchester, Newcastle, Sheffield and York
For more information on the N8 visit their website http://www.n8research.org.uk/
About HEFCE’s Catalyst Fund
The HEFCE Catalyst fund supports innovative and exceptional activity across the higher education sector in teaching, research and knowledge exchange. The fund provides investment in projects which will achieve major strategic changes and provide ongoing benefits for higher education and wider society that would not happen without additional support. For more about the Catalyst Fund see: http://www.hefce.ac.uk/funding/catalyst/ .