RCSI and NUI Sign Major Scientific and Research Agreement with France
More than 150 Irish researchers to benefit from Franco-Irish collaboration
Monday, 26th January 2009: The Royal College of Surgeons in Ireland (RCSI) and the National University of Ireland (NUI) will today sign a unique partnership with three major French Scientific institutes at the Irish Embassy in Paris. The agreement is the first of its kind between Ireland and France and will allow institutions between the two countries to collaborate and share information more openly in the area of translational medical research and optical imaging.
The collaboration will enable students and researchers to carry out research and training, as well as sharing research facilities between the five bodies, including the Royal College of Surgeons in Ireland (RCSI), the National University of Ireland (NUI), the Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique (CNRS), the Universities of Montpellier and the Institut National de la Santé et de la Recherche Médicale (Inserm). The five institutions will also jointly apply for funding and will collaborate on existing projects together within the scientific field of biological imaging.
Professor Brian Harvey, Director of Research at RCSI said “Some of the current funded research programmes supported under the agreement are in the area of health research and include advanced imaging investigations in traumatic brain injury, cerebral ischemia (stroke), epilepsy and colorectal cancer. This scientific collaboration provides a unique framework for Irish and French researchers to engage in joint research programmes in biological imaging and translational medical research.”
Dr. Attracta Halpin, Registrar of the NUI said “The opportunities for co-supervision of PhD students between the NUI and the Universities of Montpellier are a highly significant aspect of the scientific agreement and will greatly enrich the doctoral training experience of young Irish and French researchers.”
The Franco-Irish collaboration is a result of the recent establishment of the National Biophotonics and Imaging Platform Ireland (NBIP) which includes the NUI and the Universities of Montpellier. The €30 million platform is funded by the Higher Education Authority of Ireland and led by the Royal College of Surgeons in Ireland.
The mission of NBIP is to provide an integrated national access and training infrastructure in research, education, technology development and industry collaboration for Ireland’s investment in Biophotonics and Imaging. The objective of the training programme is to develop the career prospects of researchers at an early stage of their career to become independent investigators and senior scientists in academia or industry.
Currently there are over 150 Irish researchers working in association with NBIP Ireland. Under the agreement, they will have the potential to freely collaborate with France through the Institut de Génomique Fonctionelle (IGF) and other EU laboratories affiliated with this group and NBIP.
ENDS
For further information please see contact:
Niamh Burdett / Caitriona Flaherty
Royal College of Surgeons, Communications Department
Phone +353 1 402 2218 086 608 6764
Editors Notes
The context: Imaging is recognised as a key toolset for the Life Sciences by the EU (e.g., Photonics21 "Photonics for the 21st-Century", www.epic-assoc.com) and Ireland’s national strategy for the development of industry R&D http://www.enterprise-ireland.com/SourceIreland/Ireland/Photonics.htm.
The National BioPhotonics and Imaging Platform - Ireland (NBIP) (www.nbipireland.com) is a 30million euro research and technology platform funded under the Higher Education Authority of Ireland – Programme for Research in Third Level Institutions Cycle 4. Its mission is to provide an integrated national research network in BioPhotonics and Imaging. The NBIP provides a framework for advanced research, training and technology development, bridging the Physical and Life Sciences interface and, through partnership with Industry, enhancing technology developments in BioPhotonics and Imaging.
The France-Ireland Scientific Collaboration Agreement will promote collaborative advanced research programmes in biological imaging and medical research through scientific exchange programmes, joint supervision of PhD students and knowledge transfer agreements between researchers in the NUI and NBIP and in France’s scientific and medical research agencies, the CNRS and Inserm.
The NBIP Euroepean Network: The NBIP includes research laboratory facilities and scientists based in the Irish Universities of Galway, Cork, Maynooth, Limerick, Dublin City University and Trinity College Dublin, the Royal College of Surgeons in Ireland, Dublin and Dundalk Institutes of Technology. The NBIP network for EU FP7 projects include, The Institute of Functional Genomics, CNRS, Montpellier, France (http://www.igf.cnrs.fr/). The Institute of Biostructure and Bioimaging, CNR, Naples, Italy, (http://www.ibb.cnr.it/index2.htm) and the Nordic Imaging Network (http://www.nordic-imaging.net/)
The NBIP consortium has been awarded an EU FP7 Marie-Curie Advanced Training Network. The NBIP Career Enhancement and Mobility Programme will provide post-doctoral fellows across Europe with interdisciplinary research and training programmes in BioPhotonics and Imaging. The aim of the training programme is to develop the career prospects of post-doctoral researchers at an early stage of their career to become independent investigators and senior scientists in education or industry.
The Marie-Curie Advanced Training Network will be formally launched at the inaugural scientific meeting of the National Biophotonics & Imaging Platform in RCSI on March 26th 2009.
For further information contact the NBIP national co-ordinator Prof. Brian Harvey at bjpharvey@rcsi.ieïï��ï��