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Imperial College, London, and Warwick 51¹ú²úÊÓƵ have come out in front of Oxford and Cambridge in a national competition for research equipment funding.

Imperial was the biggest winner with five successful bids for grants totalling Pounds 3,353,602 and Warwick won grants worth Pounds 1,828,908 in bids for support from the Joint Research Equipment Initiative. Oxford netted only Pounds 1,223,694 and Cambridge Pounds 1,096,261. 51¹ú²úÊÓƵ College London got Pounds 1,117,477.

The initiative, run as two competitions for matched funding by research and funding councils, was launched last year in a bid to boost partnerships between higher education institutions and external research sponsors and support research relevant to the Technology Foresight Programme.

Awards announced this week by the Higher Education Funding Council for England and the Department of Education in Northern Ireland amount to more than Pounds 17 million.

But some winners have warned the initiative should not be seen as a substitute for standard grants.

The largest single award, Pounds 1,650,000, went to Imperial for a supercomputer for multidisciplinary work. Imperial also won Pounds 1,050,000 for a unique electron microscope for examining the structure of biological macromolecules.

Rodney Eastwood, Imperial's director of planning and management, said: "Obviously we are pleased. But while it is good for big science that these awards are made it does not make up for the big overall cuts in equipment grants."

Warwick was the second biggest winner, gaining seven awards. Ray Dupree, a physics professor, was responsible for the largest, worth Pounds 610,651. The money will be used to help buy a spectrometer.

JOINT RESEARCH EQUIPMENT INITIATIVE

Imperial College........... Pounds 3,353,602

Warwick 51¹ú²úÊÓƵ......... Pounds 1,828,908 Oxford 51¹ú²úÊÓƵ.......... Pounds 1,223,694 51¹ú²úÊÓƵ College London.. Pounds 1,117,477 Cambridge 51¹ú²úÊÓƵ........Pounds 1,096,261 Bristol 51¹ú²úÊÓƵ..........Pounds 918,435

Birmingham 51¹ú²úÊÓƵ...... Pounds 868,777 51¹ú²úÊÓƵ of Kent......... Pounds 842,002 51¹ú²úÊÓƵ of Newcastle.....Pounds 626,564 Cranfield 51¹ú²úÊÓƵ....... Pounds 619,475 Durham 51¹ú²úÊÓƵ.......... Pounds 488,942

Manchester 51¹ú²úÊÓƵ...... Pounds 440,634 Sussex 51¹ú²úÊÓƵ.......... Pounds 398,925 Reading 51¹ú²úÊÓƵ..........Pounds 374,737 51¹ú²úÊÓƵ of Teesside......Pounds 362,322 Leeds 51¹ú²úÊÓƵ........... Pounds 351,486 Bradford 51¹ú²úÊÓƵ........ Pounds 284,855

Liverpool 51¹ú²úÊÓƵ....... Pounds 9,583 Nottingham 51¹ú²úÊÓƵ...... Pounds 267,000 York 51¹ú²úÊÓƵ............ Pounds 247,577 Loughborough 51¹ú²úÊÓƵ.....Pounds 221,018 South Bank 51¹ú²úÊÓƵ...... Pounds 204,804 Queen's Belfast............ Pounds 200,000 Hull 51¹ú²úÊÓƵ............ Pounds 190,161 King's College London...... Pounds 150,000 Greenwich 51¹ú²úÊÓƵ....... Pounds 124,640

Queen Mary & Westfield College......Pounds 122,000 Surrey 51¹ú²úÊÓƵ...................Pounds 118,396 Manchester Metropolitan 51¹ú²úÊÓƵ..Pounds 63,720