28 September 2006

Dundee researchers nominated for top awards

Researchers at the University of Dundee have been shortlisted for three major awards at this year’s prestigious Times Higher Awards.

Professor Sir Philip Cohen, Director of Research in the College of Life Sciences, is shortlisted for the Lifetime Achievement Award for the key role he has played in establishing Dundee as one of the UK’s major bio-medical research centres.

Sir Philip has been the key influence in developing the College of Life Sciences from a converted stable block with 11 scientists in 1970 to a complex that today houses almost 800 staff from 53 countries.

Sir Philip has developed and facilitated one of the largest research consortia in higher education - a £15m deal with six of the world's largest pharmaceutical companies which was awarded the Queen's Anniversary Prize in 2006.

He has developed a strategy for attracting some of the best scientists to Dundee (24 of the team leaders at the College are in the top 1% of the world's most cited scientists in their field and Sir Philip is himself the world’s 4th most cited). He has been instrumental in raising more than £35m over the past 10 years to ensure that world-class facilities and scientists are the norm in Dundee.

The discovery by a team led by Professor Irwin McLean of the gene which causes genetic skin conditions affecting millions of people has been nominated as Research Project of the Year.

Professor McLean's team, experts on genetic skin disorders, have discovered the gene that causes dry, scaly skin and predisposes individuals to atopic dermatitis (eczema). Some of these individuals also develop a form of asthma that occurs in association with eczema. The findings could have major implications for millions of sufferers worldwide.

Dr Paul Campbell, of the Division of Electronic Engineering and Physics, is shortlisted as Young Researcher of the Year.

Dr Campbell has scored major research successes in the field of sonoptics, using ultrasound techniques to develop revolutionary drug delivery methods. Dr Campbell is passionate about increasing the popularity of physics as a subject, and will go to extreme lengths to get the point across - as an awareness-raising project he has undertaken to run the Marathon des Sables, a 240km race across the Sahara which is generally accepted to be the hardest footrace on earth!

This is the second year of the Times Higher Awards. At last year’s inaugural event, the University of Dundee was one of only four institutions shortlisted as Higher Education Institution of the Year.

The winners of this year’s awards will be announced on Wednesday 15th November at a ceremony at the Hilton Park Lane in London.

The awards are organised by the Times Higher Education Supplement, the country's leading education journal.

For media enquiries contact:

Roddy Isles
Head, Press Office
University of Dundee
Nethergate Dundee, DD1 4HN
TEL: 01382 384910
E-MAIL: r.isles@dundee.ac.uk