| British Council: UK-Israel Academic Cooperation Receives Major Boost |
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24/10/2009 13:38 (27 Day 19:11 minutes ago) | |||||
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The FINANCIAL -- Fifteen exciting new projects from galaxy clusters to motor neuron degeneration have been selected to receive grants totalling £365,000 for research teams from top universities in the UK and Israel to carry out joint scientific research.
These are the first grants awarded under the Britain-Israel Research and Academic Exchange Partnership, which is managed by the British Council, and will provide a real boost to the UK and Israeli scientific communities.
Launched in 2008 by the British and Israeli Prime Ministers, this partnership scheme will increase academic ties between the two countries, strengthening existing links and developing new ones.
"Building on a tradition of strong scientific cooperation, academics from Israel’s Bar Ilan University, Ben Gurion University of the Negev, Tel Aviv University and the Weizmann Institute will be partnering with academics from UK universities including Oxford and Cambridge, Imperial College and University College London, Anglia Ruskin University and the Universities of Cardiff, Swansea, Aston, Manchester, Leeds, Liverpool, Newcastle and Southampton," British Council reported.
The new joint projects, across the scientific spectrum, are expected to make important advances in neuroscience, genetics, medicine, astronomy, physics, biology, electrical engineering, information technology and anthropology, making a real difference to people’s lives in the UK and Israel.
In response to today’s announcement, British Prime Minister Gordon Brown said:
"I very much welcome today's announcement of the grants for fifteen collaborative research projects involving Israeli and UK universities. The variety and diversity of these successful bids reflect the strong nature of the UK-Israel bilateral relationship. It was an honour for me launch the scheme in July 2008, together with the Israeli Prime Minister, and my government continues to support and actively encourage academic links between the UK and Israel."
Prof. Daniel Hershkovitz, Israel’s Minister of Science and Technology responded by saying:
"The UK and Israel have demonstrated scientific and technological achievements of the highest level. Thus it is only natural that our two countries should cooperate in these areas and create a situation in which both sides, and even the rest of the world, benefit from this successful cooperation."
In announcing the awards, Director of British Council in Israel, Jim Buttery said:
"The successful applicants were chosen for their innovation and scientific excellence. We also favoured those university teams that demonstrated a strong approach to partnership and the potential to produce results for the benefit of the wider academic world or society at large".
The Britain-Israel Research and Academic Exchange Partnership is funded by a mix of private and public funding from the UK and Israel. The largest supporter of the scheme is the Pears Foundation from the UK. The scheme is also supported by UJIA and has the full backing of the British and Israeli governments which provide financial support through the Department for Business Innovation and Skills and the Foreign & Commonwealth Office in the UK and the Ministry of Science and Technology in Israel. The scheme is managed by the British Council from their offices in Israel.
The British Council is also managing a separate but complementary research programme with Tel Hai Academic College in northern Israel involving research collaborations with two UK universities. This is supported by UJIA.
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