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Questions for UK Biosecurity

The UK needs a compelling and informed research agenda for biosecurity to meet emerging threats. The BioRISC team conducted the ’80 Questions for UK Biosecurity’ exercise to create such an agenda. We received 450 questions from 40 experts on the most pressing issues facing biosecurity in the UK. These experts were asked to draw on their peers and networks of expertise to craft the most intriguing and impactful questions.

We then used a one-day workshop with 35 participants to cull these questions down to the top 80. We included academics, policy-makers and practitioners to ensure that the final 80 questions are not only unanswered and interesting, but also practical and relevant. Academics were drawn from a range of universities including Oxford, Cambridge, Bradford, Sheffield and Imperial College London. They were joined by practitioners from organisations such as Defra, DAERA and the Pirbright Institute. The final list spans bioengineering, dual-use research,  threats to human, animal, and plant health, and the environment,  invasive species, and policy across all these areas.