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Scientists Combine Resources in Battle for Research Funds

Posted on: Thursday, 22 July 2004, 06:00 CDT

A MOVE to combine university research in key areas of science has been approved by the Scottish Higher Education Funding Council.

An initiative to pool the best brains in physics and chemistry in a research collaboration could be implemented within the next year, said Roger McClure, the chief executive of SHEFC.

The proposal - in which the top physics researchers from Edinburgh, St Andrews, Glasgow, Strathclyde, Paisley and Heriot- Watt universities would collaborate with chemists from Edinburgh, St Andrews, Glasgow and Strathclyde - is aimed at making Scotland capable of competing internationally with Oxbridge and the leading research universities in London, Imperial College and University College London, which stand to gain higher funding as a result of government plans to change its research funding formula and bring in top-up fees.

Mr McClure said that the top international researchers in these areas were likely to view Oxbridge or the London research universities as the top choices. However, if Scotland could offer the critical mass of top research collaboration, a strong community, well-resourced laboratories and the benefits of a Scottish lifestyle, it could be an equally strong alternative.

The approach would be a shift away from the traditional method of funding research on an institutional basis to a collaborative methodology.

Although it is unlikely that the new physics and chemistry research pools, or institutes, will have a separate physical base, a chief executive and administrative staff will be appointed to them to direct a research strategy.

Details are still being worked out and SHEFC is awaiting the results of a comprehensive spending review, due in September, to determine how much money the higher education sector will be allocated and how much can be directed towards this initiative.

Mr McClure said the council was proposing that every student who enrolled to do postgraduate research in physics and chemistry would automatically become a member of a new graduate school in these disciplines.

Statistics have shown that fewer students are applying to study chemistry and physics, although Scotland is a world leader in research in these areas.

Mr McClure said that partly as a result of declining interest, SHEFC was keen to make these research areas the first of its collaborative research pools.

"They are still fundamental sciences to all of the sciences - the biosciences are totally dependent on them.

"To let that languish would be really bad news," he said.

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