London (IANS): Chancellor Gordon Brown has announced awards totaling 5 million pounds ($9.9 million) for collaborations between higher education institutions in India and Britain as part of a government initiative to advance research links between the two countries.

The awards have been made under UK-India Education and Research Initiative (UKIERI) that was launched by Prime Minister Tony Blair in April 2006. The awards support collaboration research teams in areas of interest.

A total of over 5 million pounds ($9.9 million) has been awarded to teams from over 70 institutions in the two countries, in six major and 23 standard awards. The collaborating teams will use their awards to research areas such as environmentally friendly aeroplanes, climate change and human genetic makeup.

Announcing the awards, Brown said: "Each of the winners - and the many other excellent candidates - are evidence of the strength of the education links, research partnerships and learning collaborations between our two countries.

"And these are themselves a sign of strength of the much broader economic, political and cultural relationship between our two countries that I have had the privilege to witness for myself on my visit this week."

A reception to celebrate the announcement of the awards and congratulate the winners is scheduled here on Tuesday with Bill Rammell, MP, Minister of State for Lifelong Learning, Further and Higher Education.

The call for bids for the awards evoked what has been described as 'an overwhelming response', with over 250 applications received for standard awards, which are worth up to 150,000 pounds ($297,284) each, and over 100 expressions of interest for the major awards which are worth up to 500,000 pounds ($991,189) each.

A joint India-UK Evaluation Panel evaluated the applications, and over 800 reviewers in both countries were approached to comment on the bids.

Successful collaborators for major awards are:
- University of Cambridge and the Centre for Cellular and Molecular Biology, Hyderabad, on genomics.
- University of Nottingham and the Industrial Toxicology Research Centre, Lucknow, on the animal stress-response network.
- University of Leicester and the Indian Institute of Science, Bangalore, on reliable smart adaptable air vehicles.
- Imperial College, London University, and the Indian Institute of Science, Bangalore, on smart materials for environment-friendly aero-engines.
- Walker Institute, University of Reading, and the Indian Institute of Tropical Meteorology, Pune, on regional climate change.
- City University and Indian Institute of Technology, Delhi, on application specific micro-structured optical fibres.

The award to Leicester aims to develop novel control algorithms and technologies in two areas of application, which are of importance to both Britain and India: Uninhabited air-vehicles (UAVs) and micro-satellites in search and rescue scenarios; and high performance piloted aircraft, where poor handling qualities result in piloted-induced oscillations (PIOs).

The UKIERI is a five-year initiative designed to facilitate a step-change in education and research cooperation. The initiative prioritises high quality, innovative research and academic excellence in areas of priority interest and benefit to both countries.
In addition to academic and research excellence, the research awards require a high level of mutuality and sustainability, which are key features of the initiative. UKIERI supports collaborations between the two countries in schools, professional and technical skills, higher education and research.

An initial 10 million pounds ($19.8 million) from the Department of Education and Skills, the Foreign and Commonwealth Office and the British Council has now increased with contributions from others, including the Indian government.

A further 2 million pounds ($396,536) has been raised from corporate sponsorship, with contributions of a similar value to be provided in-kind, and institutions applying for funds are also making contributions.

Overall, this has resulted in a total anticipated fund for UKIERI in excess of 25 million pounds ($49 million) over five years.