The first meeting for BBSRC-funded high level education partnerships was held this week as the £12 million initiative kicks off with four projects on food production.

The Advanced Training Partnerships have been awarded to projects led by the Institute of Biological, Environmental and Rural Science (IBERS) at Aberystwyth University, the University of Nottingham, the University of Reading and the Royal Veterinary College.

The formal collaborations bring together companies with research and training organisations to work in complementary areas.

The aim is to make the initiative sustainable within five years.

BBSRC director for innovation and skills Dr Celia Caulcott said: “We recognised that we needed to find a new way of training people at a very high level.”