Belfast, Antrim -- (SBWire) -- 03/21/2012 --Professor Stephen Smartt from Queen's University Belfast is to lead a five-year mission to hunt for the first supernovae, or exploding stars. The professor of astrophysics will head up a team of 12 international scientists, who will begin work on the project at the university next month. The project hopes to gain a better understanding of the origin of chemical elements. We spoke to a staff member at Stream Advertising, a Belfast-based sales and marketing company, who said, “There’s an amazing amount of talent at Queen’s, and it’s great to see such an ambitious project being taken on locally.”

Professor Smartt, who is also the director of the Astrophysics Research Centre at Queen’s, said, “With this research, we hope to understand how chemical elements were first created in the universe - we think that they were created by the explosions of the most massive stars. The project has an ambitious goal to find the first supernovae that exploded in the universe.” The research was made possible the award of one of the most prestigious Science and Social Sciences research grant in Europe. The European Research Council granted £2.3m to the project.

“It’s fantastic that all that money is making its way into Belfast,” said our source at Stream Advertising, “In troubled economic times it’s healthy for money like this to be filtering in, rejuvenating the economy.”

Professor Smartt said, “Just recently we have made new discoveries of the brightest supernovae ever found and this grant will build on that success.” He faced stiff competition from around Europe for the research funding, and said that he was honoured to be awarded such a prestigious grant. The award is testimony that Queen’s is recognised globally as a leader of research. He added, “This is great news for Queen's but also for Northern Ireland as this money will be invested in the local economy.”

Professor James McElnay, Pro-Vice Chancellor for Research and Postgraduates at Queen’s, said, “This year, the Nobel prize in Physics was awarded jointly to two teams who used exploding stars to map the shape and expansion of the Universe. These pioneering studies of exploding stars, or supernovae, has led astronomers and physicists to develop new technologies for mapping the skies. Professor Smartt's award will make the Astrophysics Research Centre at Queen's a major hub for European research and we are delighted to see Queen's recognised at this level of competition.”

The European Research Council grant is aimed at funding "ground-breaking, high-risk projects that open new directions in their respective research fields or other domains".

“Investment in the sciences and research is important, and Belfast has so much potential,” said our contact at Stream Advertising, “I look forward to hearing about the continued progress of the project.”

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-northern-ireland-17285783

http://www.briefingwire.com/pr/stream-advertising-comment-on-ni-high-streets-up-for-sale

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