In this feature, Professor Philip Baker, Pro Vice-Chancellor, Research and Enterprise, celebrates a record-breaking year of research income for the University of Leicester.
I am delighted to announce that, as an institution, Leicester has received £103m in research funding for the financial year (August 1 2022 to 31 July 2023), which is double the amount of the previous year and the first time we have broken through the £100m funding ceiling.
This record funding comes just over a year after we were named a top 30 UK university for research in the Research Excellence Framework 2021, and in the same year that we launched five new research institutes in the autumn of 2022.
Our most lucrative amount of funding came in October 2022, when it was announced Leicester and partners were to receive £26m to continue pioneering research into improving and saving lives. The investment is being used by the National Institute for Health and Care Research (NIHR) Leicester Biomedical Research Centre to research illnesses linked to respiratory disease, cardiovascular diseases, type 2 diabetes, chronic kidney disease and the consequence of inactivity.
In addition to a wealth of health research, the £103m also went to a diverse range of projects which will have wide- ranging impacts on society, culture and the environment.
To have doubled our income from research is an outstanding achievement in these challenging times. This has absolutely been a team effort involving colleges, institutes, centres and key funder groups and is an incredible start to the University of Leicester’s second century.
To be a researcher is to make a difference. To be a researcher is to change the world. Every day, world-changing research happens right here.
As Citizens of Change, our researchers are dedicated to researching some of today’s most critical issues, from viruses and disease to air quality, preserving our natural world, and ensuring social justice for all. Just as we are diverse in our makeup, we are equally diverse in our research.
Research projects receiving funding in 2022-23 included:
• The harnessing of Artificial Intelligence to identify patients at increased risk of side effects from radiation treatment for breast cancer
• Battery research to help the switch to electric cars
• UK Space Agency funding to coordinate space activity and encourage inward investment in the Midlands’ space industry
• A British Heart Foundation award for pioneering heart valve research
• A study into racism in rural England
• A project to accelerate the process for finding new treatments for lung conditions.
