Platform Objectives

The Platform award provides funding to allow continuity of support for key researchers coming up through the members’ laboratories, to allow such researchers to move in and out of baseline support or into other specific projects as funding becomes available.

New inter-disciplinary and inter-institutional collaborations are being nucleated and consolidated within an overarching research theme, specifically between polymer chemists, physical chemists, pharmacists, clinicians and biologists. A key function is “brainstorming”, combined with short collaborative research secondments and other networking activities (sandpits and “research days”).

The flexibility of Platform funding is being harnessed to enable the career development of talented young career researchers whilst simultaneously, providing stability and flexibility to facilitate a longer-term strategic view on research, especially in new research directions considered 'too risky' for normal responsive mode.