The N8 Research Partnership has received an £8m grant from the Higher Education Funding Council for England (HEFCE) through its Catalyst Fund to develop its Agri-Food Resilience programme.
The N8 Research Partnership, collaboration between eight research-intensive universities in the north of England, is aimed at enhancing food security research in the UK.
HEFCE Research, Education and Knowledge Exchange director David Sweeney said: "This is an important collaborative project involving a strong partnership of universities with relevant and complementary expertise in research and knowledge exchange.
"Food security is a strategic priority for the nation. This investment will support higher education to deliver new translational research activity with business, and complements other agri-tech developments HEFCE is supporting."
The Agri-Food Resilience Programme will build on the partnership's strengths in science, engineering and the social sciences to address critical challenges in food security, including sustainable food production, resilient food supply chains, improved nutrition, and business and consumer behaviours, HEFCE stated.
The universities that are part of the programme is from Durham, Lancaster, Leeds, Liverpool, Manchester, Newcastle, Sheffield and York.
