Climate research broadens its base

Climate research is to get at least Pounds 1 million a year over the next five years from the natural environment and engineering and physical sciences research councils.

University bids to house an interdisciplinary centre on climate research will be invited in early summer. A NERC spokesman said the hope was that the centre, to open in mid-2000, would also get support from the Economic and Social Research Council, bringing its total annual funding close to Pounds 2 million a year.

NERC has agreed to shift its research emphasis from building big instruments and satellites for earth observation to ploughing cash into interpreting and understanding data from these sources.

The shift - made possible because the building programmes it inherited from the former Science and Engineering Research Council are drawing to a close - should benefit universities. NERC is considering establishing one or two centres of excellence in earth observation at universities. It has also given the go-ahead to exploratory talks with Lancaster University about the construction of a joint centre for ecology and hydrology.

The council has been trying to rationalise its Cumbria operations and is now proposing the joint centre, which would be built at the university with up to Pounds 5 million from NERC and a contribution from the university.