The Economic and Social Research Council (ESRC) has announced continued funding, from 2007 to 2012, for its three research centres, CESAGen, EGENIS and INNOGEN, that, along with the ESRC Genomics Policy and Research Forum, make up the ESRC Genomics Network.
As part of the 2000 and 2002 Spending Review, the ESRC received £10 million to fund initiatives looking at the social and economic context of genomics.
The Centre for Economic and Social Aspects of Genomics (CESAGen), which will receive around £8 million of funding over five years, is a Cardiff-Lancaster collaboration led by Professor Ruth Chadwick, in which researchers from the social sciences and the humanities work closely with those in the natural and medical sciences to address the social, economic and policy aspects of development in genomics. Key challenges in the next few years will include addressing the social dimensions of the applications of genomics in health service delivery, with reference to both common and rare diseases; and in areas such as food and nutrition, behaviour and criminal responsibility, and human enhancement.
EGENIS, the ESRC Centre for Genomics in Society, based at Exeter will receive almost £4 million over the five years. EGENIS, headed by Professor John Dupré, is an interdisciplinary research centre looking at the social implications of contemporary genetic science especially in areas such as nutrigenomics, systems biology and gene therapy which have the potential to become highly contentious in society.