21st March 2001: Research Fortnight
NWSGC in the news: Councils talk about splitting NW science bill
Three research councils have recently started negotiations about how much money they will each contribute the North West Science Review awards, allocated to nine consortia last year. Between them, the EPSRC, MRC and BBSRC will need to provide £26.2m for the nine proposals.
The North West Science Review was set up in March last year to enhance the science infrastructure in the region as a consequence of the loss of the synchrotron at the Daresbury Laboratory. The OST has already said that the projects fall under one or other of the three cross-council programmes in genomics, e-science and basic technologies, announced in last year's spending review allocations. The money for the North West Science Review projects would, therefore, have to be found from within these programmes.
Although the projects were selected before the cross-council programmes were announced, all of the research councils were involved in reviewing there scientific quality.
Colin Miles, head of equipment and facilities at the BBSRC, says that the role of each research council is being considered individually for each project. For example, the North West Structural Genomics Centre - a collaboration between Daresbury Laboratory, UMIST, John Moores University, the Universities of Manchester and Liverpool, and the company AstraZeneca - will be funded just by the BBSRC and MRC.
Diane McClaren, strategy and initiatives co-ordinator at the MRC, says that the negotiations will be concluded by around mid-April so that funds can be put in place by the start of the spending review period later this year.
The research councils are also watching the development of the Centre for Accelerator Science Imaging and Medicine (CASIM), funding for which was announced recently by the DTI. This includes a proposal for a £100m proton cyclotron to be built at Daresbury Laboratory as well as £50m for a fourth generation light source. According to the DTI, a scientific case for CASIM will be submitted by the end of the month, after which a feasibility study would be carried out. If this is successful, money for CASIM would come from the research councils and the NHS, among other.
Although detailed negotiations about exactly how much each party will contribute to these projects have not yet begun, McClaren says that the MRC has nominated a representative to sit on the committee that will review the feasibility of CASIM.