Dr Beatrix Schlarb-Ridley

at British Antarctic Survey (BAS)

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Director of Innovations and Impact, British Antarctic Survey

Beatrix took up her new post as BAS Director of Innovations and Impact in May 2014. Prior to this, she was InCrops Business and Innovation Officer in the Department of Plant Sciences, leading initiatives on biorefineries, algal technologies and biopharming. Her particular focus in that role was on unlocking the potential of algal technologies for applications in the areas of food and feed, platform chemicals, bioremediation and energy.

A plant biochemist by background, Beatrix has over 13 years experience in photosynthesis research and maintains a strong interest in applying research outputs. She studied Biochemistry at the University of Tübingen in Germany and then moved to Cambridge, where she obtained her MPhil and PhD in photosynthetic electron transfer and protein-protein interaction from the Department of Biochemistry. She was then elected Research Fellow at Corpus Christi College, Cambridge and also held an Oppenheimer Research Fellowship to investigate transient biological surface interactions. This work led to the discovery of pharmaceutical uses of plant proteins, which she investigated in Chicago with the UIC-spin-out CDG Therapeutics.

Back in Cambridge, she started to coordinate the Bioenergy Initiative at Cambridge University, took on a Business Fellowship with London Technology Network and became a University Enterprise Champion. She feeds real-life company scenarios into MBA projects and collaborates with the Centre for Entrepreneurial Learning at the Judge Business School in Cambridge to encourage entrepreneurship.