£20 million to boost public health research
11 January 2007
Plans are announced today for the creation of
up to five ‘Centres of Excellence’ designed to strengthen public
health research in the UK with a new investment of £20 million.
The Centres are designed to bring together
leading experts from a range of disciplines working in partnership
with practitioners, policy makers and wider stakeholders in order
to tackle complex public health issues, such as obesity and smoking
that are likely to have a significant impact on the health of the
nation.
Funding for the Centres of Excellence will be
made on a competitive basis with up to £5 million available for
each Centre over a 5 year period.
The Centres will build academic capacity by
establishing a range of new academic posts and strong training and
career development programmes. The funding will also provide the
infrastructure needed to support high quality research. This will
include technical staff, IT systems, equipment, administrative
support and research facilities.
The £20 million investment has been committed
by a partnership of funders that have come together under the
umbrella of the UK Clinical Research Collaboration to develop this
coordinated approach to strengthen public health research in the
UK.
The funding partners include the British Heart
Foundation, Cancer Research UK, Department of Health, Economic and
Social Research Council, Medical Research Council, Research and
Development Office for the Northern Ireland Health and Personal
Social Services, Wales Office of Research and Development Welsh
Assembly Government and Wellcome Trust.
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Press Release
Full details of the competition are available
from the Economic and Social Research Council at:
www.esrcsocietytoday.ac.uk/publichealthcentresofexcellence