City Deal Research

Ulster University is a key delivery partner for two projects in the City Deal, which is led by Derry City and Strabane District Council, supporting its implementation in line with the University’s own ambitions to increase the student population in the Derry~Londonderry area and stimulate broader economic development across the North West. These are:

CADRIC – Cognitive Analytics & Digital Robotics Innovation Centre

• A £39m research-led, industry-facing project driving the multi-disciplinary innovation necessary to translate the benefits of the University’s leading-edge research in data driven disciplines. The project includes establishment of a new purpose-built facility that will be delivered by Ulster University at its Derry~Londonderry Campus. The new CADRIC facility will provide infrastructure, equipment, and dedicated staff for the Cognitive Analytics Research Laboratory (CARL) and the Centre for Industrial Digitalisation and Robotics Automation (CIDRA) Innovation Centres of Excellence.

• CADRIC will support inclusive economic growth, including the creation of new jobs and will help establish the region as one of the best places in the world to design, develop and launch innovative services and products relating to subjects such as bio-inspired AI and Cognitive Robotics.

• CADRIC will support the delivery of a skills and talent pipeline, with world leading excellence in Research & Development & Innovation (R&D&I) and will generate world-leading research outputs that help attract significant Foreign Direct Investment (FDI) and build new collaborative innovation partnerships. This in turn helps deliver the  Department for the Economy Minister’s Economic Vision and deliver regional balance, as a policy priority.

Phase 2 of the School of Medicine 

• The School of Medicine (SoM) is an £86m project that will attract graduates from a variety of disciplines to study, work and live in the North West. The completed Phase 1, in refurbished accommodation on the Ulster University’s Derry~Londonderry campus, opened its doors to a first cohort of 73 students on 23 August 2021 who are due to graduate in July 2025.

• Phase 2 of the School of Medicine project involves the construction of new state-of-the-art accommodation on a waterfront site on Strand Road, adjacent to the DCSDC offices and the University campus. As part of the project, there will also be a Medical Education Facility developed for the WHSCT on the Altnagelvin Hospital site and the expansion of the existing CTRIC Research Facility at Altnagelvin.

• The School of Medicine is a nationally and internationally excellent medical school, training the new generation of doctors to deliver whole person care with skill and compassion, to meet future long-term workforce needs in the healthcare system in Northern Ireland and fulfil commitments made under the New Decade, New Approach (NDNA).

• The School of Medicine’s Research Strategy to advance medical treatments which improve health outcomes is built on three Research Clusters – Translational Experimental Research, Clinical Medicine, and Public and Population Health.