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New investment in the Life Sciences Research Network Wales
The Life Sciences Research Network Wales (LSRNW) has received new funding from the European Regional Development Fund via the Welsh Government’s Sêr Cymru II scheme. The new investment of £173,789 has supported the appointment of a new Network Manager, Dr Angharad Watson, and will sustain LSRNW activities until March 2023
The LSRNW is led by its Directors, Prof Andrea Brancale (Cardiff University), Prof Cathy Thornton (Swansea University), Prof Karl Hoffmann (Aberystwyth University) and Dr Edgar Hartsuiker (Bangor University). As well as the Network Manager, who is based in Cardiff University’s School of Pharmacy, the LSRNW will shortly be appointing additional administrative support, also based at Cardiff University. Between 2013 and 2018, the LSRNW was a prominent feature of the Welsh life sciences landscape. With more than 300
CASE STUDY
Dr Angharad Watson
university researchers based across Cardiff, Swansea, Aberystwyth and Bangor, the Network held extremely popular annual Congress events, and members leveraged more than £35m of external funding as a result of the Network’s investment in them.
In 2018, its original Welsh Government Sêr Cymru I and HEFCW funding came to a close, but while the Network may have officially been on hiatus, its members continued to produce world-leading research. When asked about their activities since 2018, 82% of Principal Investigators who received LSRNW funding for collaborative projects were still actively working with partners they met through the Network. Furthermore, Network PIs had secured a further £23.3m of grant funding based on their LSRNW-funded research.
The Network is currently focusing on capacity building, and is holding a range of events to support this. These range from informal networking events and virtual writing retreats to larger events, including the Welsh Life Science Showcase in October 2021. This joint event with MediWales brings together research leaders from the fields of neurobiology, oncology, and infection and immunity, with roundtable sessions about working with companies, investors and handling IP.
All of the Network’s events are free, and details including registration can be found at www.lsrnw.ac.uk. For the rest of 2021, the Network plans to continue delivering virtual events to keep members safe. However, they hope that 2022 will see a return to in-person meetings.
Dr Salvatore Ferla, Lecturer at Swansea University
I was initially involved with the LSRNW as a research associate at Cardiff University working on the WCADD platform. This had an enormous impact on my career for two different aspects:
l I was involved in more than 40 drug discovery research projects, ranging from anticancer to antivirals, broadening my scientific knowledge and strengthening my expertise in the drug discovery field. Several of these projects produced different outputs, including scientific publications and grant applications, helping to consolidate my reputation as a scientist and in building an important network of collaborators. l The great results obtained from one of these projects set the basis for my Sêr
Cymru Personal Fellowship, which was a fundamental step towards my current position as Lecturer in Pharmaceutical
Chemistry at Swansea University. l The LSRNW has been a “jump start” for my career both as an academic and as a scientist, therefore I will always be grateful to have had the opportunity to be part of such a great scientific network.
