BRITE holds Year 1 Symposium
BRITE held its Year 1 Symposium on June 17th 2026, bringing together partners from across academia, industry, civic, combined authorities, NHS and SMEs and accelerators plus researchers from across the network to review progress and discuss our successes for this the first year of BRITE.
In this stakeholder gathering, after opening remarks from BRTE Principal Investigator Dr. Becky Jones-Phillips, Dr. Matthew Kelbrick (LSTM) and Dr. Paul Dobson (Cofactory) presented the Asset Mapping and Gap Analysis in Work Package 1, showcasing the facilities and infrastructure that already exists in the Liverpool City Region, within the Higher Education Institutions and wider local industry.
Following this, the successful applicants for the BRITE Pump Priming Fund presented their projects. Covering a wide array of topics across the Biologics sphere, we can’t wait to see how these projects develop over the coming months.
We were also introduced to the BRITE Partnership Development fund by Tom Vaughan (LSTM), displaying a key output of the programme which aims to allow Academics (including PDRAs), Technicians and Professional staff from BRITE Universities to engage with relevant industry partners within the Biologics space.
The afternoon session allowed attendees to discuss the year ahead, with University of Liverpool’s Professor Neill Liptrott and Dr. Makeba Lawson-Williams discussing work which will take place in Work Package 2 regarding de-risking biologics translation through feasibility, quality and infrastructure readiness. The day cocluded with BRITE Programme Manager Dr. Lisa Luu presenting a group discussion on how BRITE can leverage Place-Based Innovation for Future Growth, followed by the chance for networking afterwards.
We thank all key contributors for their excellent efforts throughout the day. The Symposium allowed the core BRITE team to reflect on the work undertaken in Year 1, and plan accordingly to ensure that the programme continues to develop from strength to strength.