Centres of excellence

Research excellence

ScotCHEM is a major new collaborative venture for the pooling and enhancement of resources for chemistry research in Scotland.

Chemicals research activity is funded by a £23 million shared investment among our universities.

ScotCHEM brings together major players in research in chemical sciences, creating an effective infrastructure to enhance research in a diverse and complementary range of scientific topics. The initiative represents a community of 190 academic staff, 240 postdoctoral researchers and 480 postgraduate research students, and enables joint access to major resources.

Through the ScotCHEM community, academic researchers can gain a competitive edge on the world stage when it comes to securing both basic and applied research funding.

Examples include: 

  • Scottish Enterprise Proof of Concept Programme − currently funds 12 research commercialisation projects in Scotland 
  • Chemical Sciences Scotland and the Scottish Funding Council − have created 31 new PhD studentships in chemistry as part of the ScotCHEM programme

Research carried out by the ScotCHEM community spans a wide range of specialism at the cutting edge of chemistry, including: 

  • Analytical chemistry 
  • Biomolecular chemistry 
  • Catalysis 
  • Computational chemistry 
  • Environmental, agricultural and marine chemistry 
  • Experimental and theoretical chemical physics 
  • Inorganic, materials, structural and synthetic chemistry

ScotCHEM takes in two funded ‘pairing’ initiatives

WestCHEM  − involves Glasgow and Strathclyde universities

Research focuses on functional materials chemistry, medicinal chemistry, organic and inorganic synthesis, structural chemistry, analytical and biological chemistry, chemical proteomics and heterogeneous catalysis.

EaStCHEM  − brings together Edinburgh and St Andrews universities.

Research specialities include biophysical chemistry, chemical biology, organic synthesis, structural chemistry, materials chemistry, inorganic chemistry and physical chemistry/chemical physics.

A separate Heriot Watt initiative is also funded. Dundee and Aberdeen universities also benefit from development of enhanced research networks and improved access to major research resources.

We’ve related research groups in six other universities: 

  • Abertay 
  • Glasgow Caledonian 
  • Napier 
  • Robert Gordon 
  • University of the Highlands and Islands (UHI)
  • University of the West of Scotland

Specialist resources in our research institutes: 

The Macaulay Land Use Research Institute and Scottish Crop Research Institute (SCRI) joined forces on 1 April 2011 to create The James Hutton Institute. It is the first Institute of its type in Europe and will make major, new contributions to the understanding of key global issues such as food, energy and environmental security.

  • Forest Research
  • Scottish Agriculture College
  • Scottish Association for Marine Science

Collaborations in five further education (FE) colleges: 

  • Adam Smith College, Fife
  • Carnegie College, Fife
  • Forth Valley College, Falkirk
  • Kilmarnock College
  • James Watt College, Greenock

Academic groups attract a significant amount of funding for research from UK Research Councils (EPSRC, MRC, BBSRC), Royal Society, Royal Society of Chemistry Leverhulme Trust and European Union in addition to attracting a large amounts of industrial support.