Funding for next generation of bioprocessing leaders

13 Dec 2016

The Centre for Process Innovation (CPI) is joining forces with a team of research leaders in bioprocessing to deliver a flagship three-year training programme from its National Biologics Manufacturing Centre in Darlington. Led by the Universities of Manchester and Kent, with funding from the BBSRC Strategic Training Awards for Research Skills (STARS) programme, the course will embed industrial perspective into the development of early career researchers, to upskill the next generation of bioprocessing industry leaders. The course is an extension of the ECR training strategy of the BioProNET Network.

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Course content will be designed around the insights and advice of senior industrialists, and will focus on giving PhD and post-doctoral students an enhanced perspective of industrial priorities and career engagement. The skills school training will focus on the awareness and practice of entrepreneurship, exemplifying how academic and industrial research can cross-fertilise the development of transformative bioprocessing technologies.

A design team drawn from experienced practitioners in academia and industry will generate a demanding but inspirational programme of group-based, hands-on training, using innovative training methods evolved from gold standard industry practice. Participants will be directed to understand the benefits of effective team-working, and to maximise their leadership potential for careers in industry and academia.

National Biologics Manufacturing Centre in Darlington

Professor Alan Dickson of The University of Manchester stated: Bioprocessing is the application and use of biological systems to produce valuable materials such as biopharmaceuticals (protein-based molecules, e.g. antibodies) and is a key manufacturing sector for the UK bio-economy. The UK bioprocessing sector has an excellent reputation internationally due to its highly innovative culture, however in the face of increasing competition from other countries, the UK must maximise the potential for highly talented graduates to apply their creative ideas to producing the next generation of products. This training scheme will harvest the quality of these high-flying early career researchers and empower them to become effective innovators.

Working alongside the University of Manchester, the University of Kent, and the BioproNET Network, CPI will deliver the unparalleled training programme to three successive years of participants as a one-week intensive course in September of 2017, 2018 and 2019. Group-based and hands-on, the format of the training (which presents several innovative modes of training evolved from gold standard industry practice) will be demanding, directing participants to: 1) understand the benefits of effective team-working, and 2) maximise their leadership potential for careers in industry and academia.

The Bioprocessing Skills School consortium is made up of:

The University of Manchester (Professor Alan Dickson, Centre of Excellence in Biopharmaceuticals, Manchester Institute of Biotechnology and School of Chemical Engineering and Analytical Sciences and Dr James Winterburn, School of Chemical Engineering and Analytical Sciences)

The University of Kent (Professor Mark Smales, Centre for Molecular Processing, School of Biological Sciences)

The Centre for Process Innovation (CPI) National Biologicals Manufacturing Centre (Dr Richard Alldread)

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