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The University of Stirling has played host to the 2nd Lab of this year’s Scottish Crucible ‘leadership and development’ programme for Scotland’s most promising, early-career research leaders.
In an intensive programme featuring senior contributors from the Scottish Funding Council (Dr Stuart Fancey, Director of Research and Innovation), the Scottish Aquaculture Innovation Centre (CEO, Heather Jones) and DEFRA (Prof Ian Boyd, Chief Scientific Adviser), Scottish Crucible participants learned about policies underpinning UK research and innovation strategies. They explored interdisciplinary research collaborations with their peers from multiple academic disciplines, and networked with Scottish Crucible Alumni and guest speakers with expertise in leading highly successful collaborative projects (including University of Stirling hosts, Prof Judith Philips, Deputy Principal for Research; Prof Maggie Cusack, Dean of Natural Sciences; and Dr John Rogers, Director of Research and Enterprise). The potential for creative problem solving from research outputs was further highlighted through a special tour of the national “Dementia Services Development Centre”, DSDC, located on the University campus.
Director of Scottish Crucible, Dr Ruth Neiland, said: “The Scottish Crucible cohort has benefited immensely from its interactions with academic, policy and societal experts. Our participants have seen how interdisciplinary collaborations can be a key trigger for innovation in a variety of sectors, and will no doubt go on to apply that learning to their own research plans in the future.”
Image: Speed Collaboration, c/o Dr Katherine Duncan
