Wellcome Connecting Science inspires new thinking, sparks conversation, supports learning, and measures attitudes, drawing on the ground-breaking research taking place around us on the Wellcome Genome Campus. Our programme comprises individuals with a variety of skills and expertise, within teams focused on a number of specific audiences. Each area is led by an Associate Director, with overall leadership from the Director, Professor Julian Rayner.

Our Learning and Training team works on projects from discovery research based on genomic technologies, to the application of genomics in healthcare and public health. We combine our expertise and experience in educational development and event delivery, with the specialist knowledge of colleagues from the Wellcome Sanger Institute, and from across the globe. Together, we create potentially career-defining events and activities, to enable learners to explore the latest genomic tools, technologies, and applications. Our programme ranges from immersive, multi-day conferences and training courses on the Campus, to introductory, online learning, and focussed, hands-on courses in regional hubs across Africa, Asia, and Latin America. We aim to reach beyond the science, fostering networks for global collaboration and knowledge exchange, capacity building, and the development of new careers, skills, and understanding. This area is led by Dr Michelle Bishop.

Our work across Engagement and Society uses research and engagement approaches to investigate the impact of science, ethics, and genomic technologies on people, on both a local and a global scale. We listen, gather, and share insights on public attitudes and experiences; and we create equitable programmes, projects and resources that facilitate accessible engagement and dynamic learning. We use our insights and understanding to support a diverse range of intersecting communities, including young people, learners, educators, researchers, patients, and the public, to discover how genomic science is relevant to all our lives. This area is led by Professor Anna Middleton.

Within Programme and Strategy we create both the strategic and operational framework that supports the successful delivery of Connecting Science’s key mission and goals. As part of articulating our strategic vision, we capture impact and evaluation, produce programme-wide communications, support diversity and inclusion, and work on large-scale projects around funding, review, and governance. Hinxton Hall Conference Centre sits within this area as a significant piece of infrastructure that underpins the delivery of events and other activities across our programme. This area is led by Dr Ireena Dutta; and the Head of Programme Operations, including the Conference Centre, is Katrina Robinson.

Collectively, we work with our Sanger Institute colleagues to translate ground-breaking discovery science into learning outputs that can be shared with the global research community, engagement activities which will inspire the next generation of scientists, and attitudes and perspectives that will influence practice and policy.