BBSRC protects research areas

A report by the Biotechnology and Biological Sciences Research Council (BBSRC) has outlined a series of recommendations to protect vulnerable areas of niche research expertise.

The document, which follows a consultation run by the BBSRC and the Biosciences Federation, has identified the areas of whole animal physiology, industrial biotechnologies, plant and agricultural sciences and systematics and taxonomy as being strategically important to the UK despite providing fewer employment opportunities.

Prof Ottoline Leyser, chair of the BBSRC Bioscience Skills and Careers Strategy Panel, said: ‘Our role is to ensure that the BBSRC gets the best information and advice to ensure that the high-quality and impressive profile of the UK’s biosciences community is maintained and strengthened into the future.

‘We have heard many anecdotal reports of skills shortages but in order to advise the BBSRC on priorities for action we had to have a solid evidence base from which to work. The niche research skills within the four broad areas of concern that we have identified are crucial for UK bioscience because these areas underpin so many of the important scientific, social and economic impacts we see arising from bioscience research.’