News writer Sophie Witts reports on a fresh grant for research institutes in the Norwich Research Park.
A group of research institutes on the Norwich Research Park are to accept a £4m grant from the Biotechnology and Biological Sciences Research Council (BBSRC) to aid in funding postgraduate study.
The grant alone stands to fund 39 PhD students undertaking the Doctoral Training Partnership award at the Norwich based institutions. Led by the John Innes centre, the award will be undertaken in collaboration with the University of East Anglia, the Sainsbury Laboratory, the Institute of Food research and the Genome Analysis centre.
A further £2m has been pledged by both the Norwich Research Park board and the partner institutions over the next three years, resulting in a total of 59 students receiving postgraduate support.
The investment places Norwich amongst 14 institutions that were last week announced by Minister for Universities and Sciences David Willets to receive £67m nationwide in order to fund postgraduate development in biosciences, as well as a number of industrial Case (iCase) student awards.
Speaking at the University of Reading, David Willets said: “This £67 million investment in postgraduate training is excellent news for students, research organisations, industry and the UK as a whole. The brightest and best students will be finding solutions to some of the biggest challenges facing us all, from food security through to renewable energy.”
Over the next three years, the BBSRC will work closely with each training partnership, providing £5,000 per student per annum, increased from a minimum £1,000. The partnership aims to both maximise student employability and provide highly skilled scientists for the UK research base.