Dr Julia Wilson

Director of Strategy, Policy and Innovation

 
 
My role is to lead the Strategy, Partnerships and Innovation portfolios for the Institute. In particular, I work in partnership with external organisations including other academic institutes, industry, governments, and funders to enable the Sanger Institute to conduct its world-leading genomics research. My department – Strategy, Policy and Innovation – ensure that the fruits of the Institute’s science are developed into resources, tools and products that will have a positive impact on health, society and the environment. In addition, we support the development of the next generation of genomics experts who will build on the Institute’s foundational, blue-sky research.

My aim is to support the Sanger Institute’s leading researchers to deliver the Institute’s cutting-edge research and help shape our future scientific direction. To do this, I engage with governments, commercial organisations, the NHS, funders and investors to identify opportunities to deliver real-world benefits. Within the Institute itself, my department provides advice and guidance, removes barriers, and steers and supports the research.

The work is a many-team effort, and I am supported by a diverse department of strategists, policy experts, innovation advisers, academic career specialists.

About me

I’ve always been interested in research to improve disease and health, which was why I was naturally drawn to work at the Sanger Institute. But now I am excited by how genomic research, and especially the work the Institute, is now exploring how we can make the world a better place – by improving the environment and through changing how we do science to create greater research equity. I believe we are at the beginning of a phase of scientific enquiry that will change how we view the world, how we inhabit the world and how we behave in the world.

It is exciting to work at an Institute that combines staggering scale with scientific boldness and a can-do attitude to explore and understand biology to a level and depth that was previously impossible. I am privileged to be part of an organisation that dreams the impossible and then seeks to deliver it.

I am proud that the Sanger Institute takes on the most pressing and daunting of research challenges to improve health and the environment. I enjoy the fact that I can contribute to the work of innovating new ways to conduct genomic research and taking technology to the next level. It is humbling to see ideas and approaches that were just the stuff of science fiction just a few years ago becoming science fact.

How the Strategy, Partnerships and Innovation department enables Sanger’s science

My department brings together teams that externalise or add value to Sanger science across the Institute. At the Institute our science programmes deliver incredible scientific discoveries, scientific operations generate vast amounts of valuable data and the informatics teams organise and serve the data for analysis. Then it is the role of the Strategy Partnerships and Innovation Department to take this amazing science to the next level. The scientific discoveries, the trained scientists, the foundational datasets and the resources that we generate are transformed to deliver even greater Institute impact and societal benefit.

My teams cover Strategy, Impact and Reporting, Policy and Advocacy, Translation and Entrepreneurship, Academic Programmes – including Faculty, Graduate Students, post-doctoral fellows, and International Fellows. We draw together a wide range of expertise and knowledge to maximise the impact of the Sanger Institute in pioneering new areas of research and building global genomic research capacity.

The amazing research that the Sanger Institute does is not the end of the story. My department’s goal is to ensure that our science provides a foundation for others to make further discoveries, develop new diagnostics and treatments or design approaches that deliver healthcare, societal or environmental benefits.

We add value to the Sanger Institute’s science and its culture of research and collaboration to make sure that they reach across the whole Institute and the wider world.

To achieve this, we focus on:

  • Training new scientists in the latest research techniques and the Sanger Institute’s ethos of bold, collaborative, open science so that they can take this knowledge with them to build capacity in other institutes and organisations around the world.
  • Applying Sanger’s research by unlocking and nurturing the entrepreneurial capabilities of all our staff and also developing our science to deliver scientific or societal benefit through translation support – transforming scientific ideas into products or services, using business creation, licensing and industry partnerships to maximise the real-world impact of Sanger science.
  • Influencing in order to support the delivery of our science through public policy, advocating for our science and fostering a positive research environment. This involves working with government departments to support political decision making, responding to government consultations and increasingly taking Sanger science into national and international policy areas to help umbrella organisations, funders and the civil service plan for the future.
  • Providing completely open access to our science, methods, data and tools so that other scientists around the world can use them to power their own research.
  • Articulating the organisational strategy and our scientific roadmap, assessing the impact of our work and preserving our history
  • Overseeing and enriching the careers of our academic researcher community. Through being responsible for the recruitment, training and career development of all graduate students, post-docs, and fellows. These Sanger trained scientists then move on to work as leaders in science and research organisations globally, taking the Sanger ethos, training and values with them.
  • Recruiting and developing world leaders in genomics research and supporting an excellent and diverse research ecosystem for all Sanger Faculty including Core, Associate, and Honorary Faulty.

The Institute is in a privileged position in that it can generate and analyse huge amounts of data. But to truly extract the maximum value from our research we seek to work with global research community. In addition, we make our data and techniques freely available to enable scientists throughout the world to make their own discoveries to answer the most pressing health or societal needs in their region.

Collaboration is key – science is not a zero sum game

None of the Institute’s research could happen without collaboration: either with commercial partners and suppliers, pharmaceutical and technology companies, or other academic institutes. So, we convene like-minded organisations from around the world to tackle the greatest health, disease and environmental challenges.

I find it fascinating that there are so many opportunities for synergies between different areas of research, delivery, technology and policy that can deliver even greater benefits. For example, some people may think that having a policy of open science, collaboration and rapid data sharing would mean that you couldn’t also deliver direct societal benefit through commercial development. Yet we have found that the two approaches support and enable each other: our researchers benefit from greater insights and improved tools, while the development of real-world solutions is strengthened by fresh insights from our scientists.

More than the sum of our parts

Innovation department can take an overarching view of the ways that we interact with academics, with industry, with society and with governments. Our aligned functions allow us to see and maximise the synergies and opportunities from all those different areas. So, we can create positive impact in areas that otherwise wouldn’t benefit.

We have different specialities but shared in-depth knowledge of the research that takes place at Sanger. Most of us are scientists by trade but are also specialists in legal, governmental, regulatory, educational healthcare and commercial fields too. Because of this, we understand the different drivers and motivations of each sector and know how to make things happen. This means that we can build bridges between the academic, commercial, NHS and governmental sectors to seize opportunities and add value for mutual benefit.

For example, by gathering together our different knowledge and insights, we can see where the Institute could conduct research that could lead to new medicines or diagnostics, but current government policies or industry approaches would hinder it. By working with policy experts, we can amend the regulatory framework to enable this vital research to deliver insights for the pharmaceutical industry.

Another area where our broader view has real impact is in working with governments and organisations to develop and refine new regulations to avoid unwanted and unintended consequences. We can explore the nuances of proposed legislation and interrogate its impacts – both positive and negative – on scientific research. Often, we can help Governments formulate policies that achieve the results they wish while also enabling beneficial, ethical and positive research to flourish.

My working style

I like to feel empowered and trusted to do the best job I can. So, in turn, I like to empower and give space to the members of my team. I know that my role is not to be the expert in everything that my department does, but to recruit the experts and give them the tools and environment to deliver their best work for the Institute.

My role is to lead the department and give my teams and their members the confidence to explore, understand and be creative in their roles. I like to grow teams built on trust and will seek my colleagues’ advice and insights to make the best decision. I encourage everyone to contribute within meetings as I think we reach the optimal decision by considering all the angles and gathering as full a view as possible. It would be a shame if a great idea was lost because someone didn’t feel confident enough to share it.<

I am keen to grow the next generation of genomics leaders and advisers and so I try work in a coaching style. I seek to give my teams members opportunities to see how decisions are made by being involved in the decision-making process and ultimately empowering them to make decisions for themselves. I take great pride when I see members of my teams growing in their roles and responsibilities.

I am a member of the Academy of Medical Sciences FLIER Programme, the BioIndustry Association Genomics Advisory Committee, Chair of the Open Targets Governance Board, President of the Rising Network, member of the Global Gene Corp Scientific Advisory Board and Earth BioGenome Project International Steering Committee.

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