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Education: Saving our planet for years to come
LOOKING TO THE FUTURE: Professor Alison Baker with students Daniel Schnaubelt and Marian Quain in the molecular biosciences research laboratory at the University of Leeds.
Susan Press reports on an academic initiative to find new ways for future generations to live sustainably.
Universities in Yorkshire are at the forefront of a £6m project to help preserve our planet for future generations.
Academics from Leeds, Sheffield and York are joining forces to carry out groundbreaking research into everything from food supplies to finding more sustainable forms of energy and new alternatives to diminishing supplies of fossil fuels.
New funding from the Biotechnology and Biological Sciences Research Council will pay for a total of 78 PhDs over a three-year period, with the first students starting in October 2012.
Postgraduates at the three universities will swap facilities and expertise under the joint Doctoral Training Partnership in Mechanistic Biology.
The project is headed up in Leeds by Professor Alison Baker, of the Faculty of Biological Sciences.
She said: “Many projects will be crossing traditional boundaries between life science research and physics and chemistry, bringing together new ideas and approaches for understanding processes that are fundamental to life, addressing issues like how we provide more food with less space available to grow it.
“By 2050, it is estimated there will be at least nine billion people living on Earth.
“That means we have to focus minds on looking at ways in which world-class science can help solve future problems like making energy more sustainable, making our food safer to eat and looking at things like the impact on our food supply of the fertilisers and pesticides we currently use.
“The graduates of the programme will be equipped to make an impact in both academic and commercial settings in the future.
“Students will be working on research that trains them in the most up-to-date methods and technologies which will be applicable in many areas of science.”
The project marks the latest academic initiative by the White Rose Consortium, formed in 1997 to bring together the expertise of Yorkshire’s three leading research universities.
Chief executive Dr Julian White said: “We may not be around in 40 years but the next generation will and they are the ones who will have to deal with problems like the need for bio-energy and making food not just available but affordable.
“This initiative will generate a cohort of highly trained, adaptable and enthusiastic students who will be able to apply their skills to the national and global challenges we face.
“It also raises our national and international profiles and gives us the opportunity to develop our partnership and the ideas which will broaden horizons.”
The White Rose University Consortium is one of 44 research organisations across the UK which were awarded a share of £67m nationally following a competitive bidding process.
Professor David Westhead, from the Faculty of Biological Sciences at the University of Leeds – who led the successful joint bid – said: “Having a shared postgraduate training programme across our three universities has enormous benefits that haven’t previously been available to students, such as accessing other universities’ equipment and expertise.
“This significant award also recognises our commitment to broad-based scientific and professional development for our PhD students.”
News of the funding was announced this week by the Minister for Universities and Science, David Willetts.
He said: “This 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.
“The partnership approach means many institutions are combining their strengths to provide students with improved training and relevant work experience. This will better equip them for future careers, be it in research, industry, or elsewhere.”
Academics at all three institutions will be working together on research issues, with the University of Leeds taking the administrative lead.
Potential students can apply to any of the White Rose universities to take part in the programme, which will be backed up by scientists from the Government’s Food and Environment Research Agency.
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Saturday 26 May 2012
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