A JEWEL IN THE EAST KILBRIDE CROWN

Linda Fabiani MSP last week visited a jewel in the crown of East Kilbride industry, when she accepted an invitation from the Scottish Universities Environmental Research Centre (SUERC), located within the Scottish Enterprise Technology Park.

The visit included meeting staff and a tour of the facilities including an explanation of how their prize possession of a Accelerator Mass Spectrometer works (see: http://www.gla.ac.uk/surrc/ams/index.html).

SUERC is operated jointly by Glasgow and Edinburgh Universities and is a world leading facility in the field of carbon dating, which is used in establishing the age of organic material and has a number of applications including, research into climate change and is frequently used to date finds from archaeological sites; it is also the technology used by criminal investigators to date materials found at crime scenes.

Ms Fabiani commented on her visit:

“This is a fascinating facility and one that takes the ordinary lay person into a world we would normally only see through the prism of TV documentaries and science programmes.

“I thoroughly enjoyed the visit and was captivated by the range of applications of this technology and the extent to which this facility is used by a variety of bodies from around the world.

“The staff here are world leaders in their fields and science graduates from around the globe apply to work here, which is real testimony to the very advanced research work that takes place here.

“The SUERC facility is proof of the fact that East Kilbride already has some of the most advanced technologies located in the town and is well placed to attract further high quality investment and jobs.

“This is the sort of facility that East Kilbride can take great pride in and is an inspiration to any young budding scientists within our schools”.

END

Notes:

SUERC is a collaborative facility operated jointly by the Universities of Edinburgh and Glasgow. It also hosts five Natural Environment Research Council Facilities that are available to UK scientists through competitive application to the relevant Steering Committees.

The facility aims to perform, stimulate and support high quality research in the Earth, Environmental and Biomedical Sciences through development and maintenance of high-end analytical facilities, inter-disciplinary exchange and collaborative interaction.

Website: http://www.gla.ac.uk/surrc/index.html