BBSRC future research priorities

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BBSRC future research priorities
Professor Nigel Brown Director of Science and
Technology Group
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Biotechnology and Biological Sciences Research
Council

• MISSION
• Fund first-class bioscience research
• Train bioscientists
• Support knowledge transfer
• Engage with public

• STAKEHOLDERS
• INDUSTRY agriculture, food, chemical, health,
  pharmaceutical
• PUBLIC dialogue and consultation
• GOVERNMENT e.g. DEFRA, FSA, RCUK

Why? Quality of Life and UK plc
BBSRC funding totals around 340M p.a.
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Mixed economy of BBSRC funding
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Funding commitment 07/08
Budget 381.9m
Council decides overarching division of funding
when developing Delivery Plan
Source BBSRC 2004 Delivery Plan. Figures
include FEC
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Science Panels Committees
Council
Strategy Board
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Ten Year Vision and Strategic Plan
REFRESHED 2005-06
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Excellent Science
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Some highlights of the SR2004 allocations

• 4 p.a increase in responsive mode funding over 3
  years.
• 3 p.a. average increase in Institute CSG over 3
  years.
• 16M for development of new tools and resources.
• 25M in integrative and systems biology.
• 8M to promote the transfer of understanding of
  basic plant science to crop research.
• 6M in animal health and welfare research.
• 80 of new PhD awards in 2006/07 will be 4-year
  flexible awards.
• All figures pre-fEC

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Building a healthier UK bioscience base

• Increase responsive mode funding
• Embed systems biology in the UK SEB
• Establish a funding stream for large and longer
  programmes
• Fund more research at the interface with Physical
  Sciences, Maths and Engineering
• Establish mechanisms for funding Tools and
  Resources in the Biosciences

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BBSRC Reviews horizon-scanning

• Crop Science
• Farm Animal Genetics and Genomics
• Microbial Science
• Bioenergy
• Biosecurity

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BBSRC Institutes

• Babraham Institute
• Institute for Animal Health
• Institute of Food Research
• Institute for Grassland Environmental Research
• John Innes Centre
• Arabidopsis genome project, led by John Innes
  Centre
• Roslin Institute
• Dolly the sheep cloned at Roslin Institute
• Rothamsted Research

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Science and Innovation Strategy

• Delivery Plan published Autumn 2005
• Look at science across Institutes rather than at
  individual institutions
• Iterations of strategy with Institutes, Strategy
  Board and Council
• Institute Strategy published December 2005

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3 Key Strategic Areas of Research

• Sustainable agriculture and land use including
  plant and microbial science
• - RRes, IGER and JIC

• Animal health and welfare
• - IAH and RI

• Biomedical including cell biology, diet and
  health
• - BI and IFR

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