First Year Results of the AXA Research Fund: Over Euro 13 Million Allocated for Resear...( PARIS March 24 /- The AXA Research Fu...),Health

PARIS, March 24 /PRNewswire-FirstCall/ -- The AXA Research Fund closed out its first year of existence. During the year ended, the Fund granted more than Euro 13 million to various European research institutions.

The purpose of the Fund is to promote the understanding and prevention of major risks in the world by supporting cutting edge scientific research. The AXA Research Fund has been endowed with Euro 100 million over five years, making it a major initiative in the realm of scientific philanthropy in Europe.

"The current environment only reinforces our conviction that academic research is critical to meeting the challenges of a global society," noted Henri de Castries, Chairman of the AXA Group Management Board. "We are particularly proud of the work accomplished by the Fund over the course of this first year, and we confirm AXA's long-term commitment to contributing to emergence of the talents and technologies needed to ensure the development of our societies. Researching today is protecting tomorrow."

In 2008, the AXA Research Fund granted funding to:

Three leading academic institutions:

• IHES (Institut des Hautes Etudes Scientifiques): Euro 3 million capital endowment for the creation of a permanent Mathematics chair
• Toulouse Sciences Economiques: Euro 3 million capital endowment to the Jean-Jacques Laffont Foundation
• INSERM - Paris V: Euro 1.25 million financing for the creation of a five-year chair devoted to Longevity Studies

Four multi-year projects conducted by world-class scientific teams:

• Project on the impact of climate change on major flooding in Europe (Institute for Meteorology in Berlin)
• Project dedicated to the study of the impact and dynamics of marine aliens in the context of climate change (Que
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