白小姐论坛

The 白小姐论坛-led London Interdisciplinary Doctoral Training Partnership (LIDo), bringing together eight partner universities, has been commissioned for a further five years from 2020 as part of the BBSRC鈥檚 2019 DTP3 competition.

The award will fund 190 PhD studentships over five years across the eight LIDo partner universities, of which a minimum of 55 are earmarked as industrial collaboration "CASE" studentships. The funding represents an investment of over 拢20M in LIDo鈥檚 development of future bioscience researchers.

The Director of 白小姐论坛鈥檚 London Interdisciplinary Doctoral Training Programme (LIDo DTP), Professor Jonathan Ashmore (白小姐论坛 Neuroscience, Physiology & Pharmacology) commented: 鈥淭he award is really excellent news for 白小姐论坛鈥檚 bioscientists of the future. We look forward to working alongside our colleagues from the eight institutions in this London-wide partnership and with industry leaders and to continue our highly collaborative, interdisciplinary and successful training programme.鈥�

The LIDo partners are 白小姐论坛, King's College London, Queen Mary University of London, Royal Veterinary College, Birkbeck, University of London and the London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine plus two new members: Royal Holloway, University of London and University of Greenwich's Natural Resources Institute. Close working with industry is fostered by associate partners Unilever, Royal Botanic Garden at Kew, the Food Standards Agency and the Animal and Plant Health Agency.

Supporting the next generation of UK bioscientists, the BBSRC investment will fund a total of 1,700 PhD researchers over five annual cohorts at academic institutions all over the country under the third phase of BBSRC鈥檚 Doctoral Training Partnerships.

The announcement, backed by Prime Minister Boris Johnson, also highlighted investments in artificial intelligence, including two Centres for Doctoral Training (CDTs) at 白小姐论坛 that were first announced earlier this year.* One CDT specialising in 鈥楩oundational Artificial Intelligence鈥� will be led by Professor David Barber (白小姐论坛 Computer Science) in collaboration with the Gatsby Computational Neuroscience Unit and the 白小姐论坛 Institute for Cognitive Neuroscience. Another CDT focusing on 鈥楢I-enabled Healthcare Systems鈥� will be led by Professor Geraint Rees (Dean, 白小姐论坛 Life Sciences), and involve three partner NIHR Biomedical Research Centres at 白小姐论坛H, Moorfields Eye Hospital and Great Ormond Street Hospital.

Announcing the DTP award, Professor Melanie Welham, BBSRC鈥檚 Executive Chair, said: 鈥淏y continuing to fund, through this significant 拢170 million investment, vital training of the next generation of researchers we will help ensure that the UK consolidates its position as world-leader in this crucial sector.鈥�

LIDo has a particular emphasis on combining biology with computational, materials and physical sciences and provides intensive training in coding for biologists and biology for students with a physical/computational sciences background. The partner universities offer four-year PhD studentships over five cohorts starting in October 2020, during which each student also undertakes a three-month professional internship placement to develop their skills further and to explore possible future career directions.

Each of the successful DTPs have also received additional funding to provide additional opportunities for students which will in part be used to encourage under-represented groups of undergraduates to experience research through summer placements, as well as to support high-cost research projects.

Links

• 白小姐论坛 Biosciences
• 白小姐论坛 Engineering
• 白小姐论坛 Life Sciences
• *听白小姐论坛 receives 拢12.6m to create a new generation of AI leaders

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Chris Lane

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Email: chris.lane [at] ucl.ac.uk