White Rose universities receive renewed funding from BBSRC

The White Rose universities of Sheffield, Leeds and York have received renewed funding from the Biotechnology and Biological Sciences Research Council (BBSRC, a part of UK Research and Innovation).

• BBSRC funding of £10 million has been awarded to the White Rose Doctoral Training Partnership in Mechanistic Biology and its Strategic Applications
• Investment part of government announcement on bioscience and Artificial Intelligence
• Funding will support 150 PhD students over five years

As a partnership across the three universities, we have received around £10 million from the BBSRC for the Doctoral Training Partnership (DTP) in Mechanistic Biology and its Strategic Applications.

The White Rose University Consortium DTP in Mechanistic Biology supports world-class molecular bioscience, as well as strategic research in the areas of food security, bioenergy and industrial biotechnology.

The investment was unveiled by Prime Minister Boris Johnson as part of an announcement focusing on skills in bioscience and Artificial Intelligence.

This significant investment will contribute to supporting around 150 four-year PhD studentships over five years of intakes across Sheffield, Leeds and York, starting in October 2020. During these PhD studentships, each student will also undertake a three-month Professional Internship for PhD Students placement to develop their skills further and to explore possible future career directions.

This White Rose BBSRC DTP programme will offer an exceptional range of research experiences to students, allowing them to contribute to a wide variety of world-class bioscience aligned with BBSRC’s strategic priorities. It will draw on the combined resources of the three universities and our other partners, including the Research Complex at Harwell, the Rosalind Franklin Institute, and FUJIFILM Diosynth Biotechnologies, to offer a rich and varied training environment that will equip students for successful and productive careers.

Professor Alan Berry, Director of the White Rose BBSRC Doctoral Training Partnership at the University of Leeds, said: “We are looking forward to training the next generation of biological scientists to produce fundamental advances that will underpin future health and prosperity.

“The combined universities have exceptionally strong and well-balanced research across the breadth of BBSRC-relevant research. This provides a superb environment for students to achieve their full potential.”

Aligned with BBSRC strategy, the White Rose DTP will train researchers undertaking projects in bioscience for sustainable agriculture and food, bioscience for renewable resources and clean growth, and advancing frontiers of bioscience discovery.

The UKRI-BBSRC DTP scheme is just one element of UKRI’s commitment to support future talent in research and innovation. UKRI as a whole supports around 15,000 doctoral students in UK universities, research institutes and businesses. As part of the National Productivity Investment Fund, a further 1,300 students were supported in industrially-relevant research topics, and in projects utilising artificial intelligence, machine learning and big data.