News

University of Portsmouth Major Partner in €7.5million neuroscience project

Fri, 02 Dec 2011 11:27:00 GMT

Faculty of Science researchers, together with European colleagues, have been awarded an EU Interreg grant. The Trans-Channel Neuroscience Network (TC2N) involves 17 research teams and five technological infrastructure platforms (core facilities) from the so-called ‘2 Seas area’ of the European Union. These include French teams from Institut National de la Santé et de la Recherche Médicale (INSERM), Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique (CNRS), Universities of Rouen, Rennes, Brest and Caen; one Belgian team (Vlaams Instituut voor Biotechnologie, (Ghent); one Dutch team (Erasmus MCSophia, Rotterdam); one team each from the Universities of Sussex and Exeter and three teams from the University of Portsmouth. The overall project leader will be Dr David Vaudry from Rouen. The Portsmouth project leader will be Professor Darek Gorecki (pictured).

The grant awarded to support this project covers 2011 to 2014 and provides funding to build cross-border scientific cooperation in the field of neuroscience. The total value of the TC2N project is more than €7.57 million, of which the EU provides half. The total Portsmouth share is €2.39 million, making us the second largest recipient of funds in this grant. The 50 per cent matched funding results from the research time contributions of 25 of our staff involved in the project from across the Faculty. Our team is composed of academic, research and technical staff and thus represents the true research effort of the Faculty.

TC2N is designed to be an effective platform for communicating the research developments and scientific achievements of our consortium to both the international scientific community and to the local public. It aims to promote a better understanding of neurological diseases and to explain to the public the role played by scientists in finding new and improved treatments in our regions. To engage with the general public, we plan a series of neuroscience road shows. Discoveries with potential commercial application will be developed further together with the University’s Research and Knowledge Transfer Service, using their well-established links with industry and businesses.

The first TC2N Project Steering Committee meeting took place on 11 July 2011 in the elegant setting of the Medical Faculty, University of Lille, France. It was a good opportunity for team leaders to meet personally to discuss details of collaborative projects as well as to become familiar with various aspects of project management.

Considering the present difficulties in obtaining external funding, TC2N is an important element to the University’s research strategy. Judging by the impact of our previous and a much smaller Interreg grant, we hope that TC2N will give us a great opportunity for a fruitful scientific collaboration and will become a springboard for obtaining further grants from the EU and other bodies.