Whether you have a passion for supporting scientific excellence or progressing fundamental or strategic plant and microbial science, the John Innes Centre is the place for you.

We value the diversity of staff and students and are committed to the creation of a positive environment which is fair, welcoming and inclusive and where everyone is treated with dignity and respect.

Our scientific reputation is built on our commitment to training and supporting the scientists of the future, and we are dedicated to developing staff to achieve their full potential.

We provide a broad range of opportunities for personal and career development for all staff and students to enable ‘lifelong employability’. From mentoring and transferable skills for your chosen career pathway, through to our wide range of technology platforms to support your research, at the John Innes Centre we aim to provide the right support at the right time for our staff and students.

Research Culture

We are proud of our inclusive research culture, to enable everyone to thrive in their role.

In 2017, we were awarded a Gold Athena SWAN award in recognition of our commitment to supporting gender equality in science, and our work in creating a supportive environment that benefits everyone. This was renewed in 2023 and remains valid until June 2028.

In our 2022 Review of Research Culture, the most common words used to describe the culture at JIC were: collaborative, inclusive, welcoming, collegiate, supportive, excellence, dedicated, international, family, challenging, and open to ideas.

This was echoed in our 2024 Staff Survey, where 88% of respondents said they would recommend JIC as a great place to work. Feedback included: “I love working for JIC. Not only is the science great but also the institute manages to create a collaborative and inclusive atmosphere helping everyone to feel welcome and supported.”

As a founding signatory of the Technician Commitment we have pledged to improve the visibility, recognition, sustainability and career development of technical staff at the institute and beyond.

In 2024-25 we ran a project called “Unlocking JIC’s Neurodiversity: Understanding, Valuing and Celebrating Neurodiversity” which you can read more about in our blog.

Representation

All staff and students can feed in their views via a range of mechanisms at the John Innes Centre, both formal and informal. The Employee Consultation Forum enables employee representatives to consult with senior management on Institute matters.

Each staff grouping is also represented by a ‘Voice”. There are voice groups for Postgraduate Research Students, Research and Support Staff, and Postdocs. Representatives from each group sit on key committees, and meet regularly with the Director.

Infrastructure and Investment

This is an exciting time to join the John Innes Centre as we advance our ambitious Healthy Plants, Healthy People, Healthy Planet (HP3) vision and build new, cutting-edge facilities – our Next Generation Infrastructure.

HP3 in association with our colleagues at The Sainsbury Laboratory is underpinned by a £400 million investment in state-of-the-art laboratories, glasshouses, controlled environment chambers, and platform technologies offering un-paralleled research infrastructure. This investment builds on the recognised position of JIC as the UK hub for plant and microbial science and an international centre of excellences.

These laboratories, our Next Generation Infrastructure, will open in 2029, and will be equipped with the very latest equipment in analytical biochemistry, genomics, bio-imaging and structural biology, supported by a dedicated new Data Centre with the very latest, future-proofed computational infrastructure and support in artificial intelligence and machine learning.