Press Releases

A top 20 research university – University of Reading

Release Date : 04 September 2009

The University of Reading is ranked in the top 20 UK higher education institutions in securing research council grants, according to a survey published on 3 September.

The table, published in the Times Higher Education Supplement is based on the number of awards received from every research council, except the Science and Technology Facilities Council in 2008-9.

Academics from the University of Reading won nearly £10 million from EPSRC, ESRC, MRC, NERC, AHRC and BBSRC for 44 separate research projects.

For awards from the Engineering and Physical Sciences Research Council (EPSRC), the University achieved the second highest success rate of any institution making multiple applications with 37% of applications being awarded grants. For grants from the Economic and Social Research Council (ESRC), the University had the 6th highest success rate of any institution making multiple applications with a success rate of 35%. Within the 1994 Group of 19 Universities, the University of Reading was the third most successful.

Professor Dianne Berry, Pro-Vice Chancellor for Research at the University of Reading, said: "As a research-intensive university, we are delighted that the Research Councils recognise our strength across a wide range of disciplines. We continue to receive a substantial share of UK research council funding and have increased the number of successful awards year on year."

In recent days, the University has also been successful with a number of grants from the BBSRC. We have been awarded over £700,000 by the BBSRC's Diet and Health Research Industry Club to look at the immunomodulatory effects of a probiotic in young and old people, focussing on the immune response to a flu vaccination; over £500,000 to research the influence of prebiotics on gut microbiota, LPS and markers of metabolic syndrome and £350,000 to investigate Functional Analysis of the Blumeria Haustoria - Barley interactome.

ENDS