I am delighted to note that we have passed a significant landmark in our drive to establish collaborative research activities with partners around Europe and the world.

The Vice-Chancellor opened an event at the Hadyn Ellis Building on 9 March to showcase our EU and International research, and celebrate receiving our 50th grant from the EU’s flagship research and innovation programme, Horizon 2020.

That makes a total of £24.5m to date for this University from Horizon 2020 since it started in 2014.

It’s a credit to our researchers and the efforts of professional services staff in supporting those bids.

In fact, since August we’ve submitted applications worth £79m to Horizon 2020, and we should continue to apply because there are still many opportunities, as we heard at our event.

Some of our successful applicants – including our 50th successful Horizon 2020 grant recipient Professor Lorraine Whitmarsh, from the School of Psychology – explained how their meaningful work was promoting excellent science and helping tackle some of the major challenges facing society.

Global opportunities unrelated to the EU were also highlighted, including international-focused funds such as the Global Challenges Research Fund, the Newton Fund and the Japan Society for the Promotion of Science.

I’d like to say a big thank you to European and International Research Office Manager Nick Bodycombe and many colleagues for organising such a successful event.

The take home message was that we should keep applying for research funding, EU-related or otherwise. Whatever lies ahead, there can be no let up in our efforts.