Glasgow Caledonian’s School of Health and Life Sciences is involved in new £2.4m pioneering Scottish research alliances (ARCs) officially launched at the Royal Society of Edinburgh this week.
The four ARCs are part of an ambitious Scottish Funding Council (SFC) led initiative to establish collaborative, multi-disciplinary partnerships between universities and other parts of the research and innovation sector based around societal challenges.
They include the Brain Health Alliance: creating new collaborations with a shared vision of improving brain health, the Scottish Research Alliance for Energy, Homes and Livelihoods: helping to achieve an equitable and sustainable net zero future, and the Scottish Alliance for Food: health, equity and sustainability – reimagining the food landscape and how to build a better future for all.
A key aim of the alliances is to provide support for Scottish universities to respond to national and international funding opportunities. Building on Scotland’s strong culture of research collaboration, the alliances are focussing on areas aligned to the Scottish Government’s national priorities.
The School of Health and Life Sciences is playing a major role in the Brain Health Alliance with Professor of Health Behaviour Dynamics Sebastien Chastin at the helm. Professor Chastin co-leads the Data Science for the Common Good Research Group in the Research Centre for Health (ReaCH).
Professor Chastin said: “The Brain Health Alliance means that we can collectively tackle issues such as dementia, Alzheimer’s disease and poor mental health that plague Scottish society.
“It will allow transdisciplinary research from biological to social determinants of brain health and hopefully develop integrated solutions for preventing poor brain health in the future.
“I am delighted to lead on behalf of GCU, the lifestyle arm of the alliance looking into how physical activity, good nutrition and other lifestyle factors can preserve our brain health. I look forward to working with colleagues across Scotland in this national effort.”
The Scottish Funding Council is keen for the alliances to play a key role in developing Scotland’s next generation of researchers and so they will actively support researchers in the early stages of their career and promote equality, diversity and inclusion.
Helen Cross, Director of Research and Innovation at the Scottish Funding Council, said: “By bringing together the best people from a whole range of disciplines across several universities these exciting alliances have enormous potential to harness new research opportunities for Scotland.
“They will also support Scottish researchers to continue doing what they have always done, which is to help provide the answers to some of the most pressing challenges faced by societies across the world.”
Each ARC will be funded up to a total of £600,000 over the next four years.
You can read more about the ARCs in a Wonke blog from SFC’s Director of Research and Innovation Helen Cross.
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