Dominic Fowler-Shorten

Dominic Fowler-Shorten, a UEA based student completed his professional placement with PBL Technology at the end of his second and beginning of his third year which he viewed as ideal timing as he’d reached a point where he could pause his PhD research, take a break from lab work and explore a non-academic area of interest.

PBL Technology is a leading intellectual property (IP) management and technology development company. It identifies, invests in, and protects emerging technologies originating from public research worldwide, with a strong focus on the life sciences. particularly plant, food, and microbial sciences. PBL establishes robust IP portfolios and commercialises innovations

through licensing and the creation of new ventures. They market their technologies internationally and have regular contact with a wide range of industrial customers, licensees and development partners.

Dominic’s placement was technology transfer focused where his objectives were to assist in identifying and evaluating new technologies from universities and public research organisations; develop marketing materials for the marketing of PBL portfolio technologies internationally to commercial development partners and licensees.

During his placement, he wanted to gain a clear understanding of the routes by which research innovations can be commercialised, and particularly to learn about IP that protects these innovations and technologies. IP has been an area of interest for him since his undergraduate studies, so he wanted to gain first-hand experience of how it is applied within science and technology.

Dominic had direct exposure to the practices and processes involved in protecting new technologies and innovations: for example, the process of PCT filing for a novel technology. He also completed market research and competitor analysis on a range of new PBL technologies besides producing valuable marketing collateral for these technologies: press releases; information leaflets.

Dominic said, “the placement has given me a comprehensive insight into IP and technology transfer and has strengthened my interest in this area as a potential post-PhD career.” He found the environment at PBL to be very supportive and productive, allowing him to complete set tasks within strict deadline whilst also having the freedom to be creative in the work he did.

Dominic’s advice to other PhD students about to embark on organising their placement is, “to make sure you select a topic where you have a genuine interest as this is a valuable opportunity to see if the work does align with your interests and expectations. Placements are a great opportunity to develop transferable skills that may not otherwise be possible during your research plus, they provide a refreshing break from the PhD.”