September 4^th – 9^th 2022, Durham University

REGISTER HERE https://www.surveymonkey.co.uk/r/NKJHP99

Do you want to find out how your career might develop working for industry, the differences between industrial- and academic-driven research and how the industrial environment matches your career ambitions? Do you see the possibility of developing your ideas into commercial outcome and impact? Here’s your opportunity to answer these questions and find out much more about your ability to work in teams and how the innovative, entrepreneurial spirit drives research translation.

At our week-long, intensive residential training programme, designed around the insights and advice of senior industrialists, you will take part in group-based activities and work with real-life industrial case studies. The programme is designed to engage with the process of entrepreneurship, focus on development of your ability to promote yourself and your research ideas and their value to audiences and the key importance of the societal impact of industrial biotechnology.

Are you interested? If you are (a) an Early Career Researcher (normally at year 3 or later of PhD training or on your first post-doctoral position in an academic environment but potentially in the early stages of an industrial career) and (b) working in the area of bioprocessing of biopharmaceuticals or novel biological therapeutics then this could be an ideal opportunity for you. It is likely that you are already working on a project that has an industrial collaborator but this is not essential. 

The week-long residential programme is co-organised by BioProNET2 and E3B (a BBSRC Network in Industrial Biotechnology and Bioenergy, BBSRC NIBB) and is possible due to funding from the BBSRC. Participation will be limited to 18 attendees. Your accommodation, meals and all training activities will be provided to eligible applicants.  Each participant will be asked to make a £100 non-returnable contribution for registration once their acceptance of a place is confirmed. Enquiries can be made to Dr Jo Flannelly (joanne.flannelly@manchester.ac.uk).

Full details of the programme will follow. Sessions (see below) form part of an integrated package that culminate in a Dragons Den-type pitch for establishment of a novel business concept: 

Talks on molecular design for development, manufacture and delivery of biological therapeutics and the societal/economic consideration of novel therapeutics  

Tutoring on the tools for self-awareness in working with others, career development and the entrepreneurial process  

Industrial site visits (CPI, FUJIFILM Diosynth Biotechnologies, GSK) coupled with presentations from, and discussions with, industrial practitioners.

The BEST programme has been developed from the BBSRC- funded Strategic Training Awards for Research Skills (STARS) Programme established by the Universities of Manchester and Kent, in collaboration with the Centre for Process Innovation (CPI).