April 4, 2013

The UK's Biotechnology and Biological Sciences Research Council (BBSRC) and India's Department of Biotechnology (DBT) have recently announced collaborative research proposals concerning the application of genomics and associated bioinformatics methods which address crop improvement.

The call focuses on crops of interest to both the UK and India. These include wheat, brassicas and Solanaceae.

Projects will build on the combined strengths of both academic research groups to cooperate on projects involving sequencing, genomics and bioinformatics for crop improvement.

BBSRC and DBT will fund projects at a maximum duration of three years and envisage funding multiple projects under the call.

India-based components of projects will be funded by DBT and the UK components will be funded by BBSRC.

Applications will be ranked by an international panel of experts at the end of 2013 and a decision for funding will be made early in 2014. It is expected that all awarded grants will commence soon after March 2014.