Dr Sarah Bennett, Research Technology Facility Manager

Dr Sarah Bennett has been the Research Technology Facility Manager at the Warwick Integrative Synthetic Biology Centre (WISB) since its beginning, helping to shape the facility and manage its development.

As a primary contact for researchers looking to use the WISB research facility’s instruments, Dr Bennett has seen the demand for the facility’s equipment increase over the years, along with the need for support from equipment specialists. 

New technicians with different skills and technology expertise were brought in to support WISB, and these specialists and technologies formed the Bio-Analytical Shared Resource Laboratories (BioSRL). Dr Bennett spearheaded and manages the BioSRL, which enables better equipment sharing and offers technical expertise to academic users and industry. 

The dedicated BioSRL team can deliver training in equipment use that individual research groups are often unable to provide. This supports the longevity of specialist technical knowledge, the training of new researchers (including undergraduates) in these techniques, and the production of high-quality research outputs.

Dr Bennett represents technicians at the Warwick Research Culture Forum and in BBSRC’s People and Talent Strategy Advisory Panel RTP Subgroup. She is an advocate for good research culture, encouraging the development of research technicians within her team and more widely. Sarah works with the Research England-funded Midlands Innovation ‘TALENT’ programme to advance the status of and opportunities for technicians. 

In 2022, ‘TALENT’ published recommendations for research culture, including a call for employers and funders to enable opportunities for technical staff to be principal or co-investigators on grants. Dr Bennett is leading by example and, with support from Warwick, she has been the principal investigator on a BBSRC ALERT grant funding the provision of Imaging Flow Cytometry equipment to the BioSRL. Sarah’s work enables advancements for individuals and research more widely.