Research England backs Liverpool postdoc project
29 Apr 2019 by Evoluted New Media
Research England has announced the first recipient of financing through its new RED Fund.
The organization, part of UK Research and Innovation, will contribute £3.6 million to a University of Liverpool project focused on boosting the success of postdoctoral researchers outside of academia.
The “Prosper” project will tackle equality, diversity and inclusivity issues that can prevent barriers to training for post doctorate researchers.
Alice Frost, Director of knowledge exchange at Research England, said: “Prosper takes an innovative approach to the development of early postdoctoral talent, a critical issue for the research base and for the wider economy, and has the potential to drive real change in higher education practice.”
The Prosper project will start this summer and be developed and piloted in two phases. On completion, the University of Liverpool intends to roll out the model across the other N8 Research Partnership universities – Durham, Lancaster, Leeds, Manchester, Newcastle, Sheffield and York.
Partners and investors across industry and local leadership will contribute an additional £800,000 to the project to bring it to a total value of £4.4 million.
Science Minister Chris Skidmore said: “We have a golden opportunity to build on the successes of our world-class university sector to ensure that our future academic stars get the best all round training we can provide. This project is the first step along that road.”
The Research England Development (RED) Fund commits up to £25 million a year to drive innovation in research and knowledge exchange in higher education.
