Bahamians invited to apply to the 3-year, fully-funded Venture Science Doctorate program
Dr. Thane Campbell, Dean, Venture Science Doctorate
Bahamians are invited to seize the opportunity to invent on the world stage with Deep Science Ventures (DSV), a London-based venture creator, whose global College is headed by Bahamian Dr. Thane Campbell.
DSV has announced the launch of the Venture Science Doctorate (VSD), a new program to advance global Energy, Food Security and Climate Resilience goals. A global PhD for venture creators, VSD is a 3 year, fully-funded PhD program in which candidates start with a global outcome and travel the world conducting research to develop the fundamental technology and science for their own venture. Bahamians from around the world are invited to participate to strengthen our green economy and climate resilience.
DSV will be partnering with government, through the Office of The Prime Minister’s Climate Change & Environmental Advisory Unit (C2EAU), to ensure opportunities are available for Bahamians to contribute to global technological and scientific discoveries. These contributions will not only benefit The Bahamas but also other small island states around the world.
“As a Bahamian living abroad, it is an honour to serve the Caribbean Climate Investment Program by giving Bahamians opportunities to build our Energy, Food Security and Climate solutions,” noted Dr. Campbell, who is also a Dean at Deep Sciences Ventures.
“We have the creativity and urgency needed to invent a brighter future for The Bahamas and all small island nation states. Today, DSV opens its playbook and the world opens their laboratories to you.”
The concept of the Venture Science Doctorate is radical for a number of reasons:
- A fully-fledged PhD focused exclusively on developing science for the explicit purpose of commercialisation. Candidates will simultaneously immerse themselves within the worlds of academia and becoming a founder
- Research topics developed by the candidate themselves, who instead initially choose a global challenge and spend the first year becoming a leading expert in this problem
- A new pathway and a tailored curriculum for the training of “combinatorial innovators”; individuals who specialize in developing new ideas by bringing together existing knowledge and research from across scientific disciplines, geographies and time periods
- Diversity-focused, aiming to develop cohorts that otherwise would not pursue a PhD or research-focused career: 50% ethnic minority groups; 50% women. Candidates do not need to have a STEM undergraduate in order to apply for the program and can apply from any country
- Decentralized – rather than spending their entire degree in one lab, candidates will go through a match-making process after their first year to connect them with 2 or more labs, globally, in which they will undertake placements as visiting researchers
- A 3-year PhD – developed for those with a profound sense of urgency; who realize that solutions to our hardest problems will require deep exploration. Candidates will also be able to graduate early with a Masters should they develop technology for a viable company sooner.
The VSD is timely. The Caribbean Climate Investment Program, recently announced by Prime Minister Philip Davis and Vice President Kamala Harris, will incentivize the private sector to partner with Caribbean nations to develop more clean energy and food security technologies, to transform Bahamian energy efficiency and agriculture.
In addition, the world has turned its attention to the diversity crisis in science and technology education. More innovators from Caribbean countries are strongly encouraged to take opportunities to invent and learn, diversifying the global scientific community.
“Throughout our history, many of our most educated have had to leave home to build careers in science innovation. Today, Bahamian innovators can create high-skill jobs for Bahamians at home, they can do this with international research collaborators to tackle our most pressing challenges,” noted Prime Minister Philip Davis, expressing his support for the VSD program.
“The VSD is our opportunity to reimagine the Bahamian story, together. I invite Bahamians worldwide to become our ‘Venture Scientists’ and build the technologies that will protect our islands and raise the aspirations of our young people.”
Deep Science Ventures has a successful track record of accelerating learning outcomes for women and diverse innovators. Deep Science Ventures has already built Mission Zero Technologies, a direct-air capture company backed by Bill Gates, Elon Musk and Stripe (as covered by the Wall Street Journal), to capture and store gigatons of CO2; and Antiverse, a digital biotechnology company working with global pharmaceutical companies and backed by the UK government.
The Venture Science Doctorate was first described in the Day One Project policy proposal: Forging 1,000 Venture Scientists to Transform the Innovation Economy. The proposal urges the Biden-Haris administration to i) incentivize applied research for market-ready product creation; ii) focus on the legacy sectors like Clean Energy which are pillars of a 21st century economy; iii) train science entrepreneurs at the quantities and standards required to supply local innovation clusters and iv) start in places “left behind” for STEM education diversity.
Bahamian innovators will be able to work with researchers in Nanotechnology, Soil Science, Mechanical Engineering, Organic Chemistry and other disciplines who are collaborating with Deep Science Ventures to empower the next Nature Tech leaders. Anglo American and Innovate UK are backing the Venture Science Doctorate through their global R&D and science investor networks, to help Deep Science Ventures reach its longer-term target of 1,000 “Venture Scientists” per year.
The first four VSD candidates start this year, supported by PhD holders, Deep Tech entrepreneurs and Learning Engineers at Deep Science Ventures.
The next VSD program commences September 2024 and online applications are open now.
Media Contacts:
Keishla Adderley
keishlaadderley@bahamas.gov.bs
(242) 502 7000
Pedro Zium
Pedro@deepscienceventures.com
+447596488299
About Deep Science Ventures:
Deep Science Ventures is creating a future where humanity and the planet thrive, combining available scientific knowledge and founder-type scientists into high-impact ventures. Deep Science Ventures operates in 4 sectors: Agriculture, Climate, Computation and Pharmaceuticals, tackling the challenges defining those areas by taking a first principles approach and partnering with leading institutions.
About C2EAU:
The Office of The Prime Minister’s Climate Change & Environmental Advisory Unit (C2EAU) is the Bahamian government’s dedicated division for addressing climate change and environmental issues. C2EAU is responsible for formulating and implementing strategies to ensure The Bahamas’ sustainable development while safeguarding its natural resources.