Queen’s President and Vice-Chancellor, Professor Sir Ian Greer said: 

“Queen’s welcomes today’s announcement that €70 million in joint funding is to be invested in two research centres on climate and sustainable food, both co-directed by Queen’s academics as part of the Co-Centres Programme.

“The Programme is jointly funded by Science Foundation Ireland, Northern Ireland’s Department of Agriculture, Environment and Rural Affairs, UK Research and Innovation, and industry. It will bring together academics, industry and policymakers across Ireland and the UK to collaborate on common challenges such as food sustainability and climate change. 

“The Climate+ Co-Centre, co-directed by Professor Mark Emmerson, will see Queen’s partner with Trinity College Dublin and University of Reading on research, innovation, and policy development across the interlinked challenges of climate change, biodiversity loss, and water degradation on the islands of Ireland and Britain, delivering the transformative change urgently needed to tackle the climate, biodiversity and water crises impacting the two islands – and the wider world.

“The Co-Centre for Sustainable and Resilient Food Systems, co-directed by Professor Aedín Cassidy, will bring together, in partnership with University College Dublin and University of Sheffield, world-leading researchers with research expertise in specific areas that are core to food system transformation including food safety, production, nutrition, plant and animal science, behavioural change, data science, food system governance, and the political process of food system transformation.

“This is fantastic news for the University and testament to our reputation as a leading research-intensive institution.

“I look forward to seeing the research and impact these co-centres will create across these islands.”