Industry specialists to be trained in advanced food security skills

PA 166/11 The University of Nottingham is to take a lead role in a new £12m advanced training programme for industry specialists in advanced food security skills. Across the country 100 PhD students and several thousand masters students will be funded by The Biotechnology and Biological Sciences Research Council (BBSRC) to develop the skills necessary to ensure the UK continues to make significant contributions towards national and global food security - covering the full range of food production from soil to plate. The University of Nottingham has been awarded £4m to run one of the four major new post graduate training programmes at the School of Biosciences together with the School of Veterinary Medicine and Science. Professor Jerry Roberts, Head of the School of Biosciences, said: "The Nottingham led programme has been designed in response to feedback from industry about training needs and will be flexible and responsive, spanning the entire agri-food chain, including soils, water, crops, animals, post-harvest, food and nutrition. The aim is to provide participants with lifelong membership of a vibrant community of colleagues in industry and academia, enabling them to obtain a wide range of technical and contextual skills that can be deployed for maximum impact across the chain." The BBSRC Advanced Training Partnerships will provide postgraduate level professional development in the area of agriculture and food production for a large number of industry specialists across the UK.