Academics secure 10-year innovation awards
Two Edinburgh academics have received prestigious awards to develop cutting-edge technologies.
Professor Jason Reese and Professor Susan Rosser have each been awarded Chairs in Emerging Technologies by the Royal Academy of Engineering.
The 10-year awards provide each Chair with £1.3 million to focus on research, development and exploitation work.
The University was the only institution to be awarded multiple Chairs, securing two of the ten available.
Advancing technology
Professor Jason Reese, Regius Professor of Engineering, will work on a programme called PYRAMID which will create a platform for multiscale design, from molecules to machines.
He will address the shortcomings of current computational engineering and design in the development cycles of horizon technologies whose performance depends on complex interactions between the smallest constituents, right down to molecules.
This is a tremendous opportunity to propel the UK to the forefront of next-generation design for emerging technologies. I’m both delighted and humbled that the Royal Academy of Engineering have singled me out for this investment in industrial innovation and scientific endeavour.
Innovative research
Professor Rosser, Professor of Synthetic Biology, will focus on engineering cells for combined diagnostics and therapeutics.
The ambitious programme aims to genetically engineer cells that can simultaneously combine diagnosis of a disease with a targeted treatment that prevents disease progression or provides a cure.
I am delighted and honoured that the Royal Academy of Engineering has given me this fantastic opportunity to fully focus on this research programme that I hope will provide new ways of diagnosing and treating disease allowing people to stay healthier for longer.