{"id":40355,"date":"2017-07-18T17:58:41","date_gmt":"2017-07-18T16:58:41","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/sfc.6bdv.ws\/research-pooling\/"},"modified":"2026-06-03T10:16:17","modified_gmt":"2026-06-03T09:16:17","slug":"research-pooling","status":"publish","type":"page","link":"https:\/\/www.sfc.ac.uk\/gd\/research-innovation\/research-pooling\/","title":{"rendered":"Research pooling"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>Between 2005 and 2023, SFC invested over \u00a3155m in 11 Research Pools \u2013 discipline-focused groupings of researchers across Scottish institutions that aimed to grow a critical mass of excellent research in Scotland to compete effectively for funding, research staff and doctoral students, both nationally and internationally.<\/p>\n<p>SFC funding supported over 100 Professors, more than 40 Senior Lecturers, nearly 150 Lecturers and over 600 PhD studentships across Scotland.<\/p>\n<h2>Independent Review of Scottish Research Pooling Initiative<\/h2>\n<p>An\u00a0<a href=\"https:\/\/www.sfc.ac.uk\/gd\/research-innovation\/research-pooling\/research-pooling-review\/\">independent review<\/a>\u00a0considered Research Pools a major contributor to Scotland\u2019s collaborative research culture and critical mass and research excellence in disciplines.<\/p>\n<p>Such has been the success of the Research Pools that they are now fully supported by institutions, and they continue to be an active and important part of the Scottish research landscape.<\/p>\n<p>They cover physics, chemistry, engineering, geosciences \/environment &amp; society, life sciences, brain imaging, informatics &amp; computer science, Gaelic language and culture and marine science.<\/p>\n<p>Recognising the importance of a whole system view and coordination,\u00a0<a href=\"https:\/\/www.research-innovation-scotland.co.uk\/\">Research Innovation Scotland (RIS)<\/a>\u00a0was created as a pan-Scotland collaborative initiative spanning Research Pools, Innovation Centres and Interface to address and promote cross-disciplinary research and innovation. RIS is administered by the Scottish Universities Life Sciences Alliance (SULSA) and delivers a range of activities.<\/p>\n<h2>Research pools<\/h2>\n<ul>\n<li><a title=\"this link opens in a new window\" href=\"http:\/\/www.masts.ac.uk\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Marine Alliance for Science &amp; Technology for Scotland<\/a> (MASTS)<\/li>\n<li><a title=\"this link opens in a new window\" href=\"https:\/\/www.scotchem.ac.uk\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">ScotCHEM<\/a><\/li>\n<li><a title=\"this link opens in a new window\" href=\"http:\/\/www.sages.ac.uk\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Scottish Alliance for Geoscience, Environment and Society<\/a>\u00a0(SAGES)<\/li>\n<li><a title=\"this link opens in a new window\" href=\"http:\/\/www.sinapse.ac.uk\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Scottish Imaging Network: A Platform for Scientific Excellence<\/a> (SINAPSE)<\/li>\n<li><a title=\"this link opens in a new window\" href=\"http:\/\/www.sicsa.ac.uk\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Scottish Informatics and Computer Science Alliance<\/a>\u00a0(SICSA)<\/li>\n<li><a title=\"this link opens in a new window\" href=\"https:\/\/www.speeri.ac.uk\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">Scottish Partnership in Energy and Engineering Research &amp; Innovation<\/a>\u00a0(SPEERI)<\/li>\n<li><a title=\"this link opens in a new window\" href=\"http:\/\/www.sulsa.ac.uk\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Scottish Universities Life Sciences Alliance<\/a>\u00a0(SULSA)<\/li>\n<li><a title=\"this link opens in a new window\" href=\"http:\/\/www.supa.ac.uk\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Scottish Universities Physics Alliance<\/a>\u00a0(SUPA)<\/li>\n<li><a title=\"this link opens in a new window\" href=\"http:\/\/www.soillse.ac.uk\/en\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Soillse<\/a> (Gaelic language and culture)<\/li>\n<\/ul>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>The research pooling initiative was created by SFC in 2003 to encourage researchers across Scottish higher education to pool their resources and respond to increasing international competition.<\/p>","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"parent":40360,"menu_order":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","template":"page-templates\/page-template-general.php","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"_relevanssi_hide_post":"","_relevanssi_hide_content":"","_relevanssi_pin_for_all":"","_relevanssi_pin_keywords":"","_relevanssi_unpin_keywords":"","_relevanssi_related_keywords":"","_relevanssi_related_include_ids":"","_relevanssi_related_exclude_ids":"","_relevanssi_related_no_append":"","_relevanssi_related_not_related":"","_relevanssi_related_posts":"","_relevanssi_noindex_reason":"","footnotes":""},"class_list":["post-40355","page","type-page","status-publish","hentry"],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v26.9 - 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