Lancaster University was awarded €500,000 ($721,647 USD) as part of a European program to encourage the next generation of photonics research. The €4.8 million program, Postgraduate Research on Photonics as an Enabling Technology, is financed through the EU Marie Curie funding mechanism. The consortium comprises nine academic partners, four industry partners and two associated partners. Lancaster University leads a work package on the development of diode lasers for environmental applications and contributes to another work package, which is researching quantum dot solar cells. Over four years, 14 doctoral students and five postdoctoral researchers will learn a range of skills necessary for a career in photonics. The four areas of study are as follows: mode-locked lasers for communications applications, solar cells for energy applications, gas sensing for environmental applications, and fast tunable laser sources for life sciences applications. For more information, visit: www.lansc.ac.uk