Biochemical Society President to become Chair of BBSRC Council?

Biochemical Society President Professor Sir Tom Blundell FRS, currently Sir William Dunn Professor and Head of School of Biological Sciences at Cambridge University, has been selected as the preferred candidate to become Chair of the Biotechnology and Biological Sciences Research Council (BBSRC).

Yesterday (Monday 6 April), Innovation Universities and Skills Secretary, John Denham invited the Innovation, Universities, Science and Skills Select Committee to hold pre-appointment hearings and to report on Professor Blundell’s and Dr Gillespie’s suitability for these posts. This in line with proposals announced last year to increase democratic scrutiny of key public appointments.

Read the DIUS announcement in full.

In his latest blog post, 'Getting the word out', BBSRC Chief Executive Professor Doug Kell includes discussion on the rise of the informal science mechanisms such as twitter versus formal mechanisms such as peer review. The BBSRC and Doug Kell can both be found on twitter (links below). As highlighted by the previous post on Twitter, the current willingness of decision-makers to (at least) engage with a wider audience through a variety of mechanisms should be applauded.

Read Doug Kell's blog post in full.
BBSRC on Twitter
Doug Kell on Twitter
Biochemical Society on Twitter

Biotechnology YES

The BBSRC Biotechnology Young Entrepreneurs (YES) competition is held each year and is now in its 13th year. It aims to help the UK's early career bioscientists gain the skills and contacts needed to turn research into commercial reality. The video below gives a good overview of the 2008 competition (held in December) and reveals the winners.

Visit the Biotechnology YES website.

Welcome to the Blogosphere!

Doug Kell, Chief Executive of the Biotechnology and Biological Sciences Research Council, has started a blog. In his first post, he outlines the purpose of the blog, "I shall almost certainly use this space to discuss issues of general interest to our community, and to complement my discussions with colleagues at institutes and universities."

The blog is fully moderated and comments can be made, after first completing a quick registration form.

Visit Doug Kell's blog.

Changes afoot at the BBSRC

The Biotechnology and Biological Sciences Research Council (BBSRC) has announced changes to the way its peer review committees are organised, the way new research and policy priorities are highlighted and a reorganisation of funding structures for its five sponsored Institutes.

The changes are:

• The creation of four new research committees from the existing seven


• The setting up of a mixed economy of peer review membership, including core committee members and a pool of reviewers able to be called on flexibly for their specific expertise


• New research and policy priorities that will overarch all of BBSRC’s activities. The policy priorities will help BBSRC researchers to consider the strategic relevance of their proposals when they make applications


• A system of highlight notices that BBSRC will use to generate demand when it identifies the need for more applications in certain areas


• Institute Strategic Programme Grants to replace Core Strategic Grants to the BBSRC-sponsored Institutes
  

BBSRC Chief Executive Doug Kell has said, "These changes are not about abandoning responsive mode or about forcing researchers to work in industry. It is a fallacy that responsive mode research is only for blue skies or fundamental science. The criteria for peer review will not change. BBSRC will always fund excellent science. What we want the new system to do is to encourage our research community to think about the strategic focus of their applications and then ensure that when we fund excellent science we are able to capture the impact of the outcomes."

Read the BBSRC News Release in full.

Increased Competition For Grants

THES reports that research councils are showing large increases in the numbers of applications for grants, while the amount of awards available increases in much smaller amounts. Over the six research councils a 13% rise in the number of applications in the year 2007-08 can be seen. The chance of converting an application into a grant through the Biotechnology and Biological Sciences Research Council dropped from 30% to 29%.

The Medical Research Council was the exception, where the success rate rose from 24% in 2006-07 to 27% in 2007-08.

Read the THES article in full