Umeå University part of historic EU research funding initiative
NEWS
The European Commission has presented the “largest research excellence award in history.” Two winning initiatives have been announced and both include researchers from Umeå University in Sweden.
The projects focus on the Human Brain and super material Graphene. The first initiative includes Lars Nyberg, professor and director of the Umeå Centre for Functional Neuroimaging (UFBI). The initiative on Graphne involves Alexandr Talyzin, associate professor in the Department of Physics.
The two winners were published today by the European Commission Vice President Neelie Kroes during a press conference in Brussels.
“It is extremely gratifying that researchers from Umeå University are included in the projects that have been selected for the first flagships of European research. This strengthens our role in the international arena where the goal is to try to address key societal challenges” says Lena Gustafsson, Vice-Chancellor of Umeå University.
Lars Nyberg's research will focus on memory functions. They will have a special focus on working memory, which is crucial, for example, when it comes to language learning, literacy, problem solving and mathematical reasoning.
“Research on the human brain is extremely complex and it feels good that we are now taking a comprehensive approach towards a common goal,” says Lars Nyberg.
Alexandr Talyzin’s research group is focused on developing new graphene materials that are optimized for hydrogen storage, and to study the adsorption properties of materials. Graphene can be considered as unique adsorbent material of gases and liquids due to extremely large surface area. One gram of graphene has the surface area comparable to football field.
“It is a great honour for me to work with some of the best research groups in the graphene field in Europe and to be involved and represent Sweden in this unique European initiative,” says Alexandr Talyzin.
The winning Graphene and Human Brain initiatives are set to receive one billion euros each, to deliver 10 years of world-beating science at the crossroads of science and technology. Each initiative involves researchers from at least 15 EU Member States and nearly 200 research institutes.
The European Commission will support "Graphene" and the "Human Brain Project" as FET "flagships" over 10 years through its research and innovation funding programmes. Sustained funding for the full duration of the project will come from the EU's research framework programmes, principally from the Horizon 2020 programme (2014-2020) which is currently negotiated in the European Parliament and Council.
