Eight Portfolio Partnership awards, totalling more than £28m, were awarded by EPSRC to provide long-term support to top research teams with a proven track record of achievement.

It is the first time that this award has been made to UK scientists and engineers and the Bristol team were the only chemists to receive the award.

Mike Ashfold, Andrew Orr-Ewing and Colin Western from Bristol's chemistry department will take the lion's share (70%) of the £2.6m awarded to their partnership, and administer the five-year programme. Colleagues at Oxford University will be the secondary partners on this occasion.

Professor Guy Orpen, Head of Chemistry said: 'It is a particular honour that Mike, Andrew and Colin have been selected for this award and great testimony both to the quality of their science and the ambition they have demonstrated.'

Such long-term, stable funding will allow teams to innovate, explore new directions in research that might otherwise be considered too risky, and establish collaborations with industry and other users. Partnerships also facilitate multidisciplinary, cross-institutional and international collaborations, as well as enabling communication with the public.