YORK University is one of a handful of education centres involved in a new project to nurture the talents of Britain's brainiest children.

The Academy for Gifted and Talented Youth was being launched today by school standards minister Stephen Timms, as the quest to find the first 100 candidates began.

The academy, which will be based at Warwick University, will allow 11 to 16-year-olds to study subjects such as archaeology and biotechnology at summer schools held in July and August.

Other universities - York, Durham and the London School of Economics - are also involved. The academy was inspired by a similar centre at the Johns Hopkins University in Baltimore, Maryland.

Updated: 11:35 Tuesday, February 19, 2002