Nottingham leads £12.5 million partnership to train scientists for the next industrial revolution

A researcher in Biosciences
03 Oct 2014 11:02:44.547
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The University of Nottingham has been awarded £12.5 million to train the generation of scientists to lead the next industrial revolution in the biosciences.

The Doctoral Training Partnership (DTP), funded by theBiotechnology & Biological Sciences Research Council (BBSRC), will train 250 PhD students to tackle global challenges in agriculture and food security, industrial biotechnology, bioenergy and health. 

The new partnership was announced today (Friday October 3) by The Rt Hon Dr Vince Cable MP, Secretary of State for Business, Innovation and Skills.
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The partnership offers an outstanding research environment which builds on significant recent investment by The University of Nottingham in equipment and infrastructure across its campuses to deliver world-class doctoral training in bioscience with its principal partner Rothamsted Research and five additional UK and international research communities. 

The DTP will provide students with an integrated training programme which offers an innovative combination of experimental, analytical, computational, and professional and business skills, and includes a three-month industry or policy placement.

Building on UK strengths

BBSRC is investing £12.5 million over five years to support the training and development of 1,250 PhD students. The students will be trained in world-class bioscience that will lead the next industrial revolution to help boost the economy and build on UK strengths in areas such as agriculture, food, industrial biotechnology, bioenergy and health.
 
The funding has been awarded to 12 consortia of leading universities and scientific institutions through Doctoral Training Partnerships that provide the best skills and training for bioscience PhD students. The strategic investment will ensure that researchers are trained in areas that will benefit the UK and will help to develop new industries, products and services.
 
Ten per cent of the 1250 students, who will be researching in one of 50 organisations across the UK, will be based in the Nottingham DTP.

Professor Saul Tendler, Pro-Vice-Chancellor for Research at the University said: “I am delighted with this outstanding performance. This is an excellent result which recognises the investment Nottingham has made in the key research priority areas of transformative technologies, health and wellbeing, and sustainable societies.

“Nottingham currently trains more than 3,000 postgraduate research students across seven campuses in the UK, China and Malaysia, and is committed to ensuring that the BBSRC DTP — the largest of our doctoral training programmes — is a flagship for our global postgraduate community.”

Professor Jerry Roberts, Assistant Pro-Vice-Chancellor for Research at the University and Director of the Nottingham BBSRC DTP said: “This is a fantastic achievement which reflects our research strengths in areas of global significance and affirms the quality of the doctoral training environment that we provide. It is a great opportunity to develop further close collaboration with industry, to initiate additional exciting interdisciplinary research projects, and to establish further international partnerships. We look forward to the key role that BBSRC have assigned to us in the training of the next generations of bioscience leaders.”

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Notes to editors: The University of Nottingham has 43,000 students and is ‘the nearest Britain has to a truly global university, with campuses in China and Malaysia modelled on a headquarters that is among the most attractive in Britain’ (Times Good University Guide 2014). It is also the most popular university in the UK among graduate employers, in the top 10 for student experience according to the Times Higher Education and one of the world’s greenest universities

Impact: The Nottingham Campaign, its biggest-ever fundraising campaign, is delivering the University’s vision to change lives, tackle global issues and shape the future. More news…

The new DTP is a partnership led by The University of Nottingham in collaboration with Rothamsted Research, East Malling Research, Diamond Light Source, Research Complex at Harwell, Centre for Process Innovation's National Industrial Biotechnology Facility and Crops for the Future Research Centre (Kuala Lumpur).

Story credits

More information is available from Professor Jeremy Roberts in the School of Biosciences, University of Nottingham on +44 (0)115 951 6339, jeremy.roberts@nottingham.ac.uk

Emma Thorne Emma Thorne - Media Relations Manager

Email: emma.thorne@nottingham.ac.uk Phone: +44 (0)115 951 5793 Location: University Park

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