More than a dozen small and mid-sized English universities have been awarded £156 million to expand research activity in areas of excellence.
As part of Research England’s Expanding Excellence in England (E3) scheme, a total of 18 higher education institutions will receive grants of between £1.6 million and £14.1 million to support what the funding body called “small but outstanding research units”.
Announcing the five-year awards on 16 January, Steven Hill, Research England’s director of research, said the investment would “diversify the regional spread of research disciplines to support the sustained enhancement of research capacity across England and enhance the skills base, build and diversify talent and bring disciplines together to develop new skillsets and ‘future leaders’ in areas of research excellence where there is untapped potential”.
“Our investment will also help to reinforce the contribution of higher education providers to their region through strategic local partnerships, focusing on sharing resources and infrastructure and generating local impact, backed by robust institutional leadership,” added Dr Hill.
