UK launches scheme to lure scientists from industry to academe

UK Science and Innovation Minister Paul Drayson: Keep talented people in the science base.

The Skills Gap Awards, to be administrated via the Medical Research Council, will apply to a range of sectors from which it has traditionally been hard to recruit.

The government is supporting the scheme as part of wider measures to ensure the UK holds on to top scientific and research talent in difficult times.

The MRC, the Biotechnology and Biological Sciences Research Council, and the Engineering and Physical Sciences Research Council will be involved in a  six month pilot to ensure that appointments are made rapidly. Decisions will be taken within four weeks, and the will be provided to establish facilities or initial project support, while appointees seek formal grant funding. Co-funding from industry partners will be welcomed.

In addition, the Biotechnology and Biological Sciences Research Council will advance funding for an additional 20 four-year studentships in areas of ageing research, bioenergy, bioprocessing and environmental change.

More permanent efforts to encourage active, two-way movement of skilled people from universities and research institutions to the private sector and vice versa will be strengthened in 2009 through people-exchange programmes.

The Science and Innovation Minister Paul Drayson, said, “Many businesses and industries in the UK employ first-rate scientists. In the current economic downturn, some highly qualified people may face uncertain futures so we need to give them all the opportunities we can to stay working in our research base or in wider science based roles.”