Four key UK-India research awards for Sheffield

Sheffield has scooped four out of the 81 research awards announced by the UK-India Education & Research Initiative (UKIERI) 2007/08.

This is the highest number of awards given to a UK university through UKIERI, a partnership initiative which aims to substantially improve educational links between India and the UK.

The research awards which affect Sheffield are:

  • Department of Biomedical Sciences: Professor Peter Andrews will work with Professor Vijay Raghavan, National Centre for Biological Sciences on gene expression and chromatin organisation during stem cell cardiovascular differentiation
  • Department of Physics and Astronomy: Professor Maurice Skolnick will work with Dr Venu Gopal Achanta, Tata Institute of Fundamental Research on quantum logic with semiconductor quantum dots
  • Department of Engineering Materials: Dr Beverley Inkson will work with Dr Musuvathi S Bobji, Indian Institute of Science on nanoballs and dynamical interaction of nanoparticles
  • Department of Chemistry: Dr Jim Thomas will work with Dr Amitiva Das, Central Salt and Marine Chemicals Research Institution, Gujarat, on sensitized nanoparticles as new hybrid photo-driven devices

Dr Jim Thomas was delighted with Sheffield's prominence in the awards: "The important thing here is that these awards enable us to work with the top laboratories in India - an up and coming region - allowing staff on both sides to exchange ideas and develop long-term collaborations," he said.

Mr Tim Gore, Director of Education, British Council stated: "UKIERI ensures that both India and UK benefit from the collaborations it encourages. Increasingly, higher education institutes are competing on a global scale. This partnership between our two countries ensures that our education systems are strengthened and increasingly global in outlook enabling both countries to better succeed in a global knowledge economy."

UKIERI is a partnership of the FCO (Foreign & Commonwealth Office), DIUS/DCSF (Department for Innovation, University and Skills/Department for Children, Schools and Families), The British Council, the Devolved Administrations and the corporate champions: BP, GSK, Shell and BAE Systems.

For further information on UKIERI, please visit:

http://www.ukieri.org