More than 2,000 extra students will have the chance to take doctorates in science and engineering under a £250 million scheme to tackle the technological challenges facing Britain.

The initiative, announced yesterday by Lord Drayson, the Science and Innovation Minister, will create 44 PhD training centres in the biggest expansion of postgraduate science education.

The centres will focus on problems including climate change, crime and security, medical technology and nuclear power. Candidates will spend a year improving their research skills and building links with industry before starting three-year doctorates.

The scheme, operated by the Engineering and Physical Sciences Research Council, is designed to meet the shortage of engineers and scientists capable of solving pressing national problems.

The likely commissioning of nuclear power stations, for example, could be complicated by a dearth of engineers with the requisite expertise.

Lord Drayson, who has a PhD in robotics and who founded a successful medical company, said he hoped that other research councils would emulate the initiative. “These new centres will help to develop clean renewable energy, fight high-tech crime, assist in reducing carbon emissions and discover new healthcare solutions for an ageing population,” he said.

“As we go into a downturn, the importance of investing in science has never been greater. That means investing in people and research. It’s not just about expertise and talent, it’s about building networks of talent to deal with the great challenges of our time.”

Funding for the scheme was announced in last year’s Comprehensive Spending Review and comes over and above the research council’s normal budget, which also increased.

Of the 44 centres, 17 will have a particular focus on industry, so that students learn business skills alongside their research. The initiative includes a centre for security science, based at University College London, which will support students investigating solutions to online crime, identity fraud and terrorist surveillance.

A wind energy systems centre at the University of Strathclyde will focus on the development of green electricity generation, while a water research centre will be open at Cranfield University, Buckinghamshire, in partnership with four other universities.

Oxford University is running pilot projects in healthcare technology and systems biology that will become permanent under the scheme.

Susannah Fleming, 28, from Preston, is in her final year of the healthcare technology PhD, in which she is developing automatic monitoring systems that can detect serious illness in children. Her work brings her into close contact with doctors and with a local business, Oxford Biosignals. “This keeps the project very relevant to the needs of doctors,” Ms Fleming said. “It also means that when I want to go to clinical trials, we’ve got that network ready. I can stay in academia or go into industry. I have a vast network of contacts in both places.

“This won’t just give me the letters d and r in front of my name, it could also make a real difference to the life of a child. That’s what keeps me going.”

Appliances of science

Security science at University College London Researching methods to counter the threat of terrorism

Sustainability at the University of Reading Creating energy-efficient homes and offices

Nanotechnology at the University of Cambridge Developing tiny machines for use in engineering and medicine

Biomedical Engineering at the University of Oxford Creating biomedical devices, including artificial limbs and organs

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