Provide larger grants for postdocs, government told

The UK government should provide more funding for industrial PhDs, and larger-scale grants so that more postdocs can be employed for longer, to help universities cater to industrial interests, the BioIndustry Association has said.

In its response to the Dowling review of business-university research collaborations, the association refers to one member who took his PhD students to the Netherlands because the Dutch government provided a €6.4-million grant. “Large grant awards like this would be very valuable and would help to retain UK-originating research activity in the UK,” the association says.

More funding would also allow for the purchase and use of industrially relevant equipment at the R&D stage, and help with the high cost of maintaining postdocs.