United Kingdom
20 December, 2024
A new initiative to improve female representation in wheat research has has secured funding from the UKRI Biotechnology and Biological Sciences Research Council (BBSRC). Empowering the UK wheat community to achieve gender parity is led by the John Innes Centre (JIC), together with Rothamsted Research and The Sainsbury Laboratory (TSL).
This 12-month project builds on the success of the Rosalind Franklin Women in Wheat Champions programme, led by Professor Diane Saunders at JIC, which was established to address the severe lack of female representation in wheat research in academia.
The new funding enables this highly successful development programme to be cascaded across organisations within one of the largest coordinated wheat research programmes in the UK, the Delivering Sustainable Wheat (DSW) Strategic Programme.
Professor Saunders commented: “It is fantastic to see this new investment. Wheat is a critical staple crop worldwide and protecting wheat yields is crucial for global food security and economic stability. It is only by cultivating a diverse research community that we can truly harness the diversity in scientific thinking needed to achieve a wheat secure future.”
Dr Kim Hammond-Kosack, a research discovery fellow based at Rothamsted and leader of the Delivering Resistance element of the DSW programme, said “We have tremendous talent emerging in the next cohort of female wheat early career researchers and PhD students across multiple UK institutes and universities. Now is the time to ensure we give this next generation the very best chance of career progression into senior positions and independence within wheat research. Giving voices to diversity is the only way to achieve real innovation in this sector.”
Female wheat researchers across the UK will benefit from digitised access to the career development training courses previously developed by JIC/TSL and a highly successful one-to-one mentoring programme.
They can also join professional leadership training and a dedicated career development workshop to be held in 2025. Senior wheat researchers will undertake inclusive leadership training to address unconscious gender bias and help them to recognise and address organisational barriers that could be inhibiting female career progression.
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