Fund your product by winning research Award

ICE FELLOWS are being asked to encourage promising young scientists to enter a Royal Society award that would fund a piece of research towards becoming a market product.

John Burland, professor of civil engineering at Imperial College, has written to ICE Fellows to encourage any scientists they know working in the built environment to enter the Brian Mercer Awards The awards, established by the late Dr Brian Mercer, cover the areas of civil engineering, geomechanics, water and environmental management, energy, building science, conservation and construction, environment and sustainability and novel materials.

Burland has urged ICE fellows to spread word of the award in 'your area of research'.

'If you know of anyone working in the area of the built environment, in particular someone whose research might have reached this critical stage and may be interested in applying for one of these awards, I would be very grateful if you would pass this information on to them, ' he said.

The £250,000 Brian Mercer Award for Innovation aims to fund the development of an already proven concept or proto pe through to the creation of a near-market product.

Two £30,000 Mercer Feasibility Awards will go towards testing the viability of a project.

Applicants must have a PhD or 'be of equivalent standing in their profession' and should work at a UK University or not-for-profit research institute.

It is not necessary to have previously won the Feasibility Award to apply for the award for Innovation but applicants would be required to provide evidence of a project plan developed with a private funder.

Entries must be in by March.

To nd out more go to www.royalsoc. ac. uk/funding