ACCESS’s Steve Hinchliffe wins ERC Advanced Grant for biosecurity project

Published on 17 September 2025

ACCESS would like to congratulate Professor Steve Hinchliffe (University of Exeter) for his recent funding award from the European Research Council (ERC).

ACCESS Co-Investigator, Professor Steve Hinchliffe (University of Exeter) has recently been awarded a European Research Council (ERC) grant for the BIOSSCI (Biosocial Security: Social Science
Transformations of Biosecurity) project.

BIOSSCI will work with farmers and policymakers in Bangladesh, South Africa and the UK to revolutionise biosecurity (the management of biological threats to humans, animals and environments).

Steve explains:

“Biosecurity is critical for health, economy, pandemic preparedness and food security. The current approach to biosecurity in agriculture – usually based on minimising system breaches – is failing.

This ERC Advanced Grant will allow us to develop innovative new methods and theory, using social science knowledge to consider how people, animals, materials and markets can be arranged for better biosecurity.”

For more information about the project, read here.