Listen
Celebrating science
26/09/2008
A reception for Scotland's top young scientists, including the 2008 Royal Society of Edinburgh (RSE) Research Awards, will be held at Edinburgh Castle this evening.
This will involve more than 120 of the country's most promising scientists, researchers and entrepreneurs at an early stage in their careers.
Fiona Hyslop, Cabinet Secretary for Education and Lifelong Learning, said:
"I am delighted that we are bringing together the best talent of the new generation of Scotland's scientists, to celebrate their progress so far and encourage them to achieve even more in the future.
"Scotland is an international player in science research, particularly for life sciences, energy and computer science, attracting many talented scientists to live and work here.
"In terms of Scotland's size, we are world leaders for the quality of our research, as demonstrated by the rate that our research is cited internationally. However, the commercial potential this creates is not always fully realised.
"The Scottish Government has this year increased the funded awards we support through the RSE Fellowship Scheme from three to six, demonstrating our commitment to supporting researchers in the early stages of their careers.
"Through this support we are helping RSE award winners develop their research findings and transfer ideas and technology developments into real commercial success."
Professor Anne Glover, Chief Scientific Adviser for Scotland, added:
"Science is key to both Scotland's economic success and cultural identity and the event this evening, showcasing our most promising young scientists, will help to underline this importance. I'm pleased that the Scottish Government is showing publicly that it values this contribution made by scientists.
"Scotland has a very strong science base and I hope that many of those attending this event will choose Scotland as their long-term research home."
The RSE Research Awards are this year being hosted by the Scottish Government, taking place at an evening reception on Friday September 26 at Edinburgh Castle. As well as RSE award winners, the reception will bring together many promising young scientists, researchers and entrepreneurs from across Scotland.
The Scottish Government funds several types of RSE awards - including personal and support research fellowships and awards for Arts and Humanities. This year it has increased its funding for Personal Fellowships awards, with numbers rising from three to six a year, and has increased their duration to a five year period rather than three.
The RSE is awarding 48 awards this year under schemes that are sponsored by both public and private bodies. The awards provide funding for individuals to pursue their research or its further development to commercial activity.
A report on the performance of Scotland's research base, published in February, showed that Scottish science was cited more often than any other country, taking into account Scotland's size. The same report showed that Scotland is second in the world for the impact of its research, as measured by the average number of citations per paper over 10 years.