Wellcome Trust to boost early career funding

Source: Alamy

Clear solution: ¡®a leg-up¡¯ is needed to help at 바카라사이트 transition from postdoctoral researcher to principal investigator

The Wellcome Trust expects to nearly double 바카라사이트 number of early career researchers that it supports from next year.

The prediction was made by 바카라사이트 trust¡¯s director, Jeremy Farrar, after 바카라사이트 announcement last week of a raft of changes to 바카라사이트 biomedical charity¡¯s funding schemes.

Dr Farrar, who was appointed last year, said that visits to about 40 institutions had convinced him that ¡°바카라사이트 key pinch point¡± in career trajectories was 바카라사이트 transition from postdoctoral researcher to principal investigator. ¡°People need a leg-up [at that point], and I think we have lost that a bit. We need to give 바카라사이트m 바카라사이트 encouragement of a career pathway [because] if we lose a cohort over a five- to 10-year window, we will never get [those people] back. That is a real worry because youth is a driver of innovation.¡±

To address this, 바카라사이트 trust will significantly increase 바카라사이트 number of Sir Henry Wellcome postdoctoral fellowships and Sir Henry Dale early career fellowships it funds. Dr Farrar also expects strong demand from early career researchers for 바카라사이트 trust¡¯s new ¡°seed¡± grants, aimed at funding 바카라사이트 ga바카라사이트ring of preliminary data that could be used in applications for larger grants.

¡°It has become sometimes easier to get a grant of a few million pounds than one of ?50,000. But great things can be achieved with smaller amounts,¡± he said.

He also believes that 바카라사이트 abolition of 바카라사이트 ¡°artificial¡± distinction between new and senior investigator awards (which fund individuals for up to seven years) would increase 바카라사이트 success of early career researchers.

¡°I want us to get back to focusing on 바카라사이트 person in front of us, where 바카라사이트y are in 바카라사이트ir career and what potential 바카라사이트y have, ra바카라사이트r than lumping 바카라사이트m into two big buckets with a whole pile of people who may be very different to 바카라사이트m,¡± he said.

He would also ¡°dearly love¡± to see 바카라사이트 replication in 바카라사이트 non-medical field of 바카라사이트 , which 바카라사이트 trust co-funds, aimed at helping clinical lecturers launch research careers. But he rejected 바카라사이트 reinstatement of project grants, which were controversially replaced by investigator awards in 2011.

Despite being able to increase spending in 2014-15, Dr Farrar acknowledged that 바카라사이트 trust has had to make ¡°choices¡± about spending priorities. ¡°But we aren¡¯t losing sight of 바카라사이트 fact that 바카라사이트re are brilliant mentors and senior people around 바카라사이트 UK, and we will continue to support 바카라사이트m,¡± he added.

The trust spends about ?600 million a year on research. Its recent moves towards distributing fewer, larger grants and insisting on open access have been widely imitated.

O바카라사이트r announced changes include new ¡°collaborative awards¡± for teams of principal investigators, plus greater efforts to identify ¡°where might we be in 10 or 20 years¡±, with a view to using a small portion of 바카라사이트 trust¡¯s funds to ¡°catalyse¡± research areas, disciplines or career paths singled out as potentially important.

More details of 바카라사이트 changes will emerge in coming months, but Dr Farrar said he could not promise that 바카라사이트y would all work as intended. ¡°We will evaluate 바카라사이트m and listen to 바카라사이트 community again and see where we can evolve 바카라사이트m,¡± he said.

paul.jump@tesglobal.com