The launch of the UK Collaboratorium for Research on Infrastructure and Cities (UKCRIC), a major UK research programme established with an investment of £125 million by the Engineering and Physical Sciences Research Council (EPSRC), marks the government’s commitment to investment in infrastructure research that will support the nation’s changing needs and grow the economy.
Government support for UKCRIC was first announced in the 2015 Budget and, in total, more than £216.6 million is being invested in associated new facilities by EPSRC and partner organisations.
The formal launch of UKCRIC took place on September 11, at the International Symposium for Next Generation Infrastructure 2017 (ISNGI), held at the Institution of Civil Engineers (ICE), London. UKCRIC co-sponsored ISNGI 2017, the fifth in a series of symposia, to mark the official launch.
UKCRIC is central to the UK’s infrastructure and cities research agenda but its collaborative aims and objectives – to understand how to make the system of systems that constitutes the nation’s infrastructure more resilient to extreme events and more adaptable to changing circumstances, while providing services that are more affordable, accessible and usable to the whole population – have international reach.
Professor Brian Collins, Professor of Engineering Policy at UCL and convenor of the initial UKCRIC partners who represent the UK’s major university-based infrastructure, civil and construction engineering research groups in the UK, said: “Understanding how to invest in, build, operate and maintain resilient and adaptable high-quality infrastructure based services, such as good public health, safe mobility, heating, lighting and sustainable economic activity, is vital to the wellbeing of citizens in the UK and across the world.
“UKCRIC will provide the science, engineering and research base for delivering that understanding in a low carbon context in UK industry and government, and for international partners.”
Professor Philip Nelson, EPSRC’s Chief Executive, said: “The launch of the UKCRIC is an important step in the UK’s approach to infrastructure planning, construction and use. Research is vital to ensuring we develop and adopt systems that will be resilient and adaptable to change, and will make the UK a fully connected nation.”
Read full details of the UKCRIC programme and facilitieshere.