Friday, 04 May 2007
Immediate release

Review of the Institute of Food Research – Science & future Governance

The Institute of Food Research welcomes the report on science and future governance published today by its parent research council the BBSRC.

The report confirms our view that there is a need for a food science research institute in the UK to undertake mission-driven research focussed in the diet and health area, and that IFR should continue to fulfil that mission. The panel recognises the international value of the ‘IFR brand’, which would be lost were the Institute to be dissolved.

We are delighted that the review panel agrees with us that our core expertise and capability provides a critical mass of researchers, and that our future governance should be via partnerships with the university sector which further develops the coherence of this strategically important research area.

We are also very pleased that the review panel confirms the movement of three of the major research programmes from ‘High National’ to ‘International’ standard. We are in the process of making a number of new appointments including senior positions in immunology and nutrition, as recommended in the review.

Moving forward, we are already undertaking useful discussions with potential university partners. We have been given a clear mandate to explore further the scope for working even more closely with the University of East Anglia. Clearly this is a complex process and we will be presenting our proposals for consideration by the July BBSRC Council meeting.

“The closer integration of IFR with the University of East Anglia would appear to be an obvious, though not the only, choice and helpful discussions are underway with senior university staff and our Governing Body to progress the concept” comments IFR Director, Professor David White. “We are looking forward to the challenge of the next two years and the intellectual opportunities that the recommendations will bring”.

• The Review of the IFR - Science & future Governance
• IGER and IFR: report from BBSRC Council Meeting, 18 April 2007

Ends

Notes to editors

Contact:-
Catherine Reynolds, Head of Communications, Institute of Food Research
T +44 (0)1603 255217
M+44 (0)7774 692043
E catherine.reynolds@ifr.ac.uk

About the IFR
The mission of the Institute of Food Research (www.ifr.ac.uk) is to undertake international quality scientific research relevant to food and human health and to work in partnership with others to provide underpinning science for consumers, policy makers, the food industry and academia. It is a company limited by guarantee, with charitable status, grant aided by the Biotechnology and Biological Sciences Research Council (www.bbsrc.ac.uk).

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