New Strategy for UK Animal and Plant Health Research

On behalf of a partnership of key UK research funders and policy makers, BBSRC has published ‘A Vision and high level Strategy for UK Animal and Plant Health Research to 2020 and Beyond.’ Developed with input from government, academia, industry and the third sector, this report sets out to realise the vision that by 2020, the UK will have created and harnessed new research knowledge and technology that will transform our ability to:

• Systematically predict, detect and understand key current UK animal and plant health problems and emerging threats in real time.
• Direct sophisticated and rapid responses to effectively and efficiently prevent and mitigate impacts on our agri-environment and wider ecosystems and landscapes.

In parallel, it will have created the optimal innovation environment for developing and trialling new interventions, stimulating inward investment and the development of new products and services through small and medium-sized enterprises and large national and multinational companies.

Professor Jackie Hunter, BBSRC chief executive, said: “There are urgent challenges posed by animal and plant health problems and new threats to the UK’s agriculture and wider environment, which have major implications for UK society and beyond. This vision and high level research strategy gives the key UK public research funders and policy makers, for the first time, a much needed framework within which to work together in partnership, and with our wider stakeholders, to nurture and direct the UK’s research capabilities to tackle these issues more effectively and efficiently.

“The UK needs innovative and more integrated approaches and solutions – this document sets out the ambition to grasp the exciting opportunities across a wide range of disciplines to develop ‘next generation’ knowledge and toolkits and put them into practice. In developing this research strategy the partners have sought to draw on a wide range of expertise and views, and I would like to thank everyone who has contributed so helpfully and positively.”