McMaster and the University of Liverpool have partnered to advance research and innovation at both institutions.

As a part of the partnership, the two research-intensive universities have launched a $500,000 (£300,000) seed fund that will support collaborations in areas of complementary research strength.

This includes health research across the life stages — from paediatrics to healthy aging — and research and development in port design and sustainability.

The McMaster-Liverpool Partnership Fund will fuel research discoveries across the disciplines and facilitate training opportunities for the next-generation of research leaders, says Andy Knights, McMaster’s acting vice-president, Research.

“This funding will act as a catalyst for research with impact, enabling our cross-faculty experts to address pressing global challenges — from cutting-edge clean energy and machine learning technologies to sustainable transportation and research on health across the lifespan,” he says.

“Congratulations to the first round of recipients on this well-deserved investment.”

The first round of seed fund recipients were announced on May 13 at McMaster, during a visit by Tariq Ali, Liverpool’s Pro-Vice-Chancellor, Global Engagement and Partnerships.

The nine funded projects are:

1. Scalable clustering approaches for multivariate longitudinal data — Paul McNicholas, McMaster University and David Hughes, University of Liverpool
2. Transport decarbonisation for next generation ports and port-city hinterlands — Moataz Mohamed, McMaster University and Cagatay Iris, University of Liverpool
3. Networking workshop between Gilbrea Centre for Studies in Ageing, McMaster University and Centre for Ageing and the Life Course, Liverpool University — Anthea Innes, McMaster University and Susan Pickard, University of Liverpool
4. Sustainable and Resilient Pavement Design for Port Areas — Susan Tighe, McMaster University and Haopeng Wang, University of Liverpool
5. Advanced Modelling and Simulations for Molten Salt Reactors — Markus Piro, McMaster University and Anna Detkina, University of Liverpool
6. Innovative antibiotic discovery to combat invasive Salmonella in Africa — Brian Coombes, McMaster University and Jay Hinton, University of Liverpool
7. Engineering perfusable vascular organoids for aging and chronic disease studies — Boyang Zhang, McMaster University and Ruoxiao Xie, University of Liverpool
8. Enhancing Environmental Sustainability and Resiliency of the Ports — Saiedeh Razavi, McMaster University and Yuanjun Feng, University of Liverpool
9. Developing pharmacogenetic polygenic risk scores using machine learning methods — Guillaume Pare, McMaster University and Andrea Jorgensen, University of Liverpool

The universities share historic similarities and understand that collaboration in key areas could result in significant positive outcomes and impacts, Ali says.

“I’m delighted that the University of Liverpool is entering into a strategic partnership with McMaster University,” he says.

“This partnership with McMaster is a key element of Liverpool’s strategic focus on increasing the global impact and reputation of our research and education. We have an impressive first set of joint projects funded through the new collaboration seed fund, and I look forward to following their progress and outcomes.”

The partnership builds on a history of collaboration between McMaster and Liverpool, including research and education initiatives in law and social justice, biology and nuclear science.

The two institutions also recently partnered to advance pandemic preparedness research and training opportunities at McMaster’s Global Nexus and Liverpool’s Pandemic Institute.

The seed fund is the latest in a series of collaborative initiatives that aim to advance the institutions’ shared mission of excellence and impact in research and education, says McMaster President David Farrar.

“We’re proud to partner with the University of Liverpool to fund cutting-edge, collaborative research and foster knowledge exchange amongst our students and faculty,” says Farrar.

“This first round of funding recipients includes a diverse range of experts who will advance research that supports knowledge creation and health and well-being in Canada, the UK and beyond.”