Incubating Student Societies 

Introduction

The student community is an important source of new talent in cellular agriculture. Our aims with this project cover two main aspects:

Firstly, the more talented individuals engaged with cellular agriculture, the better. Educating and encouraging thought across the UK’s intellectual centres is an excellent way to increase that. 

Secondly, our aim is to develop these societies into fully fledged GFI Alt Protein Projects. We think this is an excellent initiative and are keen to support as many student communities in the UK to set up alt protein groups that can sustainably meet the criteria necessary to join this growing initiative, should the students wish it. We want to be clear that our aim is to support these groups in whatever alt protein endeavours they seek to pursue and provide guidance or assistance whenever they seek it, rather than dictating what we wish them to do.

  • Alt Proteins or alternative proteins are plant based and food technology alternatives to animal protein. They include plant based meat, cultivated meat and fermentation. Cellular agriculture usually covers cultivated meat and precision fermentation, but the GFI Alt Protein Projects cover the whole range of alt proteins. We can support groups focusing on cellular agriculture or on the broader remit of alternative proteins.

Impact

Since 2022 Cell Ag UK has been helping to incubate student societies. We have successfully assisted in the set-up of student groups or are supporting student activity at the following universities: University College London, Imperial College London, Aston University, University of Nottingham and Aberystwyth University, with three of those to date successfully going on to become GFI Alt Protein Projects: University College London, Imperial College London and Aston University.

If you are interested in setting up a society then please read our handy guide below. Feel free to reach out to us for further information or to ask any questions.

How we can help

The Cell Ag UK guide to setting up a student society

If you are a student and are interested in starting a career in cellular agriculture then setting up a student group is an excellent way to start. The aim of our guide is to take you through the steps to starting an active, enduring and impactful student society.