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FLEXIBLE TALENT MOBILITY ACCOUNT 
 
The Flexible Talent Mobility Award (FTMA) is a training grant funded by the BBSRC 
directed to support secondments and other activities that contribute to the mobility and 
development of researchers and technical staff in industry and academia. 
Since its inception, NBIC has secured and delivered Flexible Talent Mobility Award funding totalling £935,000, 
comprising £635,000 awarded across five rounds before the 2024 and a further £300,000 awarded by BBSRC 
in 2024 to support delivery between July 2024 and March 2027. To date, this investment has been leveraged 
with approximately £657,000 in cash and in‑kind contributions from academic and industry partners. Across 
six competitive FTMA calls, NBIC has funded a total of fifty‑seven projects involving member universities and 
industry collaborators. These awards have supported placements, training, and fellowships, with placements 
typically lasting around three months and individual project budgets ranging from £10,000 to £20,000.
Approximately ten per cent of the funding supported six early‑career entrepreneurs through the Biofilms 
ICURe programme, delivered in collaboration with SETsquared, providing collaboration and licensing training, 
start‑up skills development, and tailored mentorship. Under the current 2024–2027 award, fifteen projects 
have already been funded with a total value of approximately £195,000, alongside estimated partner cash and 
in‑kind contributions of £172,000, demonstrating sustained demand for and impact of the FTMA mechanism.
FTMA projects have gained popularity and are sought after within the NBIC biofilm community, attracting 
high-quality applications. The completed projects have yielded significant short-term outcomes and reported 
medium to long-term impacts, including publications, follow-on funding awards, strengthened industry-academia 
collaborations, job creation, and international knowledge and skills exchange. Examples of success stories include 
a University of Southampton PhD student securing a position at Novogene after gaining relevant experience 
through an FTMA SME placement with YouSeq; a University of Birmingham PhD student obtaining supported by 
P&G post-doc funding following a placement at the company; and a Manchester Metropolitan University PhD 
student being offered three permanent roles after an SME placement at 5D Healthcare, citing the FTMA award as 
‘life-changing’. An FTMA Innovation Fellow from the University of Nottingham, upon finishing their project, joined 
a collaborator company, Penrhos BioLtd, to continue developing work supported by the FTMA technology.

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