Grants worth a total of £3.87 million have been awarded to researchers by the Royal Society of Edinburgh (RSE) as part of a drive to encourage innovation and entrepreneurship in Scotland.

At a ceremony in the Great Hall of Edinburgh Castle, education secretary Fiona Hyslop handed out 48 awards to academics whose research will offer public benefits in areas including healthcare, communications and the environment.

Among the recipients was Professor Ronald McQuaid of Napier University’s Employment Research Institute, who will be funded to run research on the employability of older people. Alongside international experts including David Bloom of Harvard University, Professor McQuaid will investigate the vulnerability of over-50s to unwanted unemployment and early retirement.

Arfan Ali, of Heriot-Watt’s Institute of Petroleum Engineering, secured funding to pursue research that will yield environmentally-friendly, magnetic analysis techniques to be used by the oil and gas industries in the hunt for future reserves. Mr Ali was one of eight beneficiaries of the RSE’s Enterprise Fellowship programme, funded by investment agency Scottish Enterprise.

Other funding partners include BP, Lloyds TSB and the Scottish government, which doubled the number of awards it supported this year.

Speaking before the event, Ms Hyslop said: “I am delighted that we are bringing together the best talent of the new generation of Scotland's scientists, to celebrate their progress so far and encourage them to achieve even more in the future.

"Through this support we are helping RSE award-winners develop their research findings and transfer ideas and technology developments into real commercial success.”