The N8 is a partnership created in 2007 of the eight research intensive universities in the North of England - Durham, Lancaster, Leeds, Liverpool, Manchester, Newcastle, Sheffield and York. The N8 aims to maximise the impact of this research base by identifying and co-ordinating powerful research teams and collaborations across the North of England. To support the collaborations, N8 creates teams with a critical mass of world class academics. These teams form a network of virtual centres of science and innovation excellence. Collectively, the N8 universities undertake more than £650 million of research income per annum and employ over 18,000 academic staff, thus forming the largest research-pooling partnership ever undertaken in the UK.[1] The N8 also works closely with industry to ensure businesses have an efficient and effective route to access world-class research from these leading universities through a single point in key markets.
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The group initially focused on five areas of research: Ageing and Health, Energy, Molecular Engineering, Regenerative Medicine and Water. The themes were chosen to build on existing research within the partnership which had the potential for economic and social benefit. They aimed to deliver £25 million of research funding and 140 new collaborations with industry by December 2010.
In March 2007, the N8 was awarded grant funding of £6 million from The Northern Way Growth Fund to set up 'virtual' collaborative Research Centres around each of these themes.[2] Each Centre is led by an academic director, and is supported by a business development team.
Today, the N8's main research themes are: Molecular Engineering, Regenerative Medicine, the Economic Impacts of Demographic Changes, and Parasitology.
To date the N8 has worked with over 200 new businesses, many of which are SME’s, generated over £37m of income and created 60 jobs in the North of England.[3]
The universities in the N8 Group are:
Between them, these universities educate 133,000 undergraduate and 51,000 postgraduate students every year.
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