Select committee chair supports collaborative research model

Phil Willis MP, chair of the House of Commons select committee on science and technology, gave his support to collaborative research between university teams as a means to address strategically important problems at an event held on Tuesday by the Cockcroft Institute of Accelerator Science and Technology.

Phil Willis speaking at the event

Speaking at the event, Phil Willis said, “The big problems in science are now not national challenges but global ones. To ensure the UK punches its weight when tackling these, the old model of groups from different universities competing with each other is no longer valid. Collaboration between university groups is the way forward. The Cockcroft Institute, where groups from Lancaster, Liverpool and Manchester Universities work together with researchers from STFC Daresbury Laboratory, is a very strong model for such collaborations.”

Professor Swapan Chattopadhyay, Director of the Cockcroft Institute, noted, “The Institute addresses the research and development of particle accelerators and leads the UK contribution to some of the world’s biggest scientific facilities addressing some of the most intractable scientific problems, such as the large hadron collider at CERN. Our staff expertise has also been recognised by international leadership positions in a number of critical topic areas. We’re delighted that the model provided by the Cockcroft Institute, a vibrant partnership between three universities, a major national laboratory and a regional development agency, is held in such high regard.”

Images and captions

• Image 1 - Phil Willis speaking at the event

• Image 2 - Swapan Chattopadhyay and Morris Riley standing by the commissioned artwork.