New funding for Melbourne, Manchester and Toronto projects

The Universities of Melbourne, Manchester and Toronto have announced new funding to develop bi and trilateral research projects between the three institutions.

The announcements follow the formation of a trilateral alliance last year, and represent the first steps in expanding the relationship, enhancing cooperation
between academics on three continents.

The first, the Manchester-Melbourne-Toronto (MMT) Research Fund 2022, has been jointly funded to a total of $540,000 by the three universities to create partnerships between two or three of the institutions. This follows several years of successful bilateral seed funding programs between Melbourne and
Manchester, Melbourne and Toronto, and Manchester and Toronto.

Academic teams can suggest a project and the fund will help create long-term research collaborations with a view to subsequently attracting external funding. They can be from any research discipline and projects will build on the joint strengths of the three universities involved.

Further details and how to apply can be found on the University website.

Professor Justin Zobel, Pro-Vice Chancellor (Graduate and International Research) at the University of Melbourne, said: “With this fund announcement, we welcome the opportunities for our institutions to support greater collaboration among our early career researchers. These are the great minds
of the future, and the research partnerships that grow from this alliance will help shape our world in years to come.”

Professor Steve Flint, Associate Vice-President International at the University of Manchester, said: “This is a major step in realising our strategic plans for this alliance. There are many similarities between our three cities and universities, so our research can only benefit from forming more
links like this. By combining at the level of individual and discipline we can be greater than the sum of our parts and have a greater impact on society as a result.”

Professor Alex Mihailidis, Associate Vice-President of International Partnerships at the University of Toronto, said: “The trilateral alliance has generated huge opportunities to grow our collaborations. We are thrilled that these first steps are being taken to facilitate research that is truly
global in scope and across three continents. From this foundation, we will see networks of researchers engage in developing solutions to our most pressing global problems.”

First published on 27 April 2022.


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