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Five New PhDs Announced for Magee Campus

22 June 2011

 

Five new PhD research studentships linking the University of Ulster with world-leading financial institutions were unveiled at the Magee campus today during a visit by Enterprise Minister Arlene Foster.

The news came as Minister Foster launched the Capital Markets Collaboration at the University of Ulster’s Magee, where she addressed an influential delegation of local companies and existing inward investors, academics and industry experts on this increasingly important arms of the financial services sector.

The collaboration, which has been facilitated by Invest NI, has brought five key players in capital markets together for the first time to boost research capability and skills across the sector.  NYSE Technologies, Belfast; Citi, Belfast; First Derivatives, Newry; Fidessa, Belfast and Singularity, Belfast and Londonderry, will work with academic partners from the University of Ulster and Queen’s University Belfast.

The Minister said: “The Capital Markets sector is a fast moving, highly innovative global industry. It is a sector which Invest NI continues to target for investment and in recent years has secured major successes by attracting global names to this region. Such investors working in partnership with home grown, internationally respected companies and academia can only deliver further positive economic and sectoral benefits.

“A wide range of important activities will be undertaken by the collaboration, including the development of new, highly advanced capital markets software and technologies, and the further development of key sector skills.

“ Ten PhD posts will be created and jointly based at the University of Ulster’s Intelligent Systems Research Centre at Magee and at Queen’s University Belfast’s Institute of Electronics, Communications and Information Technology, to facilitate research and development.

“Ultimately, the collaboration will strengthen the sector, encouraging further investment as investors recognise Northern Ireland’s growing capability in this industry and ensure that this region is strongly positioned to compete for its share of global business in the future.”

Welcoming the news, Professor Norman Black,PVC R&D at the University said: “We will deliver top-class research in a challenging market. Working in the true spirit of collaboration, we will achieve real business opportunity in the near future. The University will be supportive in any way to drive forward this exciting venture.”

Professor Martin McGinnity, Director of the Intelligent Systems Research Centre, speaking on behalf of the University of Ulster added:  “The vision of this initiative is to position Northern Ireland as a global centre of excellence for R&D in Capital Markets Engineering. 

"This is an ambitious goal and one which we firmly believe can be achieved given the calibre of the companies involved and their enthusiasm to engage with the research excellence at the two Universities.  The Intelligent Systems Research Centre is proud to be a leading partner in this initiative and delighted to be able to host this launch event today on the Magee Campus of the University of Ulster.”

 ENDS

CAPTION: NI Enterprise Minister Arlene Foster with Professor Deirdre Heenan (Provost of Magee Campus and Dean of Academic Development) and Mayor of Derry Maurice Devenney at the Magee launch event.