The Biochemical Society and the European Laboratory for Research & Innovation Group (ELRIG) have signed a Memorandum of Understanding to set out a new programme of collaborative activity.

Both organizations have identified like-minded objectives; of bringing together academia and industry, and to share knowledge and expertise for the purpose of advancing the biosciences. The Society and ELRIG will work together primarily on providing scientific content that is targeted at early career professionals, to support a continued pipeline of bioscientists to the drug discovery sector, as well as ensuring ELRIG’s industry-based community have access to the latest advances in biochemistry.

Professor Sir Pete Downes, President, Biochemical Society, says: “This collaboration provides a tremendous opportunity to strengthen engagement between academia and industry across the biosciences. Research projects developed jointly between Universities and industrial laboratories are often highly successful and frequently more highly cited than work from academia alone. Engaging with and bringing these communities together is therefore central to the Society’s strategic goals. Working together with ELRIG will enhance this collaborative drive and support the development of more numerous, more effective and stronger projects.” 

Steve Rees, ELRIG’s Chairman and Vice President of Discovery Biology at AstraZeneca, says: “Collaborating with the Biochemical Society ensures that ELRIG achieves its strategic aim of training industrial scientists with the latest advances in bioscience and also allows us to introduce the benefits for early career scientists, to work with us, within the industrial life science community.”

To begin with, the Society and ELRIG will be sharing knowledge and expertise amongst its networks and promoting each other’s webinar programmes. With the Society also owning and self-publishing a portfolio of journals, we welcome the potential publishing output from ongoing projects between the Society and ELRIG. Further work will be developed to collaborate on resources to specifically support early career researchers.

ENDS

Notes to editors: 

The Biochemical Society is a learned society and membership body founded in 1911. It exists to advance the molecular biosciences, promoting its importance as an academic discipline, facilitating the sharing of expertise and highlighting its role in positively effecting societal challenges. Offering an extensive programme of scientific meetings, training events and courses, educational resources and activities, policy and public engagement, the Society provides support for researchers and scientists, teachers, and members of the public. It also owns its publisher, Portland Press, and works in partnership with researchers, institutions, and funders to publish world-leading research and reviews across its portfolio of seven journals. To find out more, please visit www.biochemistry.org  

ELRIG is a UK-based, not-for-profit organization that hosts scientific meetings and conferences which bring together industry experts and thought leaders from academia and biopharma to exchange ideas and information. Our meetings, tailored to address the changing needs of the drug discovery and life science communities, are hosted throughout the UK and Europe. ELRIG meetings are accessible to all delegates free-of-charge. To meet our open access aims, we cover the cost of staging our events through the contributions of exhibitors and sponsors. We support an open policy of collaboration with other well-established and respected professional societies to add both breadth and depth to our offering. To find out more, please visit www.elrig.org