Talent Database Overview and Aims

Introduction

In 2025, Oxford Biosecurity Group (OBG) launched a talent database for people who are interested in taking on leadership roles and launching organisations in biosecurity and pandemic preparedness. 

This post gives more information about our talent database, what information we chose to include in it, and why we chose to include it. In future posts, we will summarise how we think the talent database can be best used by different people (e.g. members, recruiters,  funders) to meet their aims.

Aims of Talent Database

Oxford Biosecurity Group aims to increase the amount of impactful biosecurity work that is done in the long term. 

The talent database is a way of facilitating this, by allowing for targeted connections to be built up between members, funders, recruiters and others in the broader biosecurity community. 

Members of the talent database fill in information about themselves, which makes up their talent database profile. When designing the talent database, fields to be included in the talent database profile were selected primarily to meet the following aims: 

• [1] Catalyse members starting projects and organisations

• [1] Enable potential funders or donors to find impactful biosecurity opportunities to fund

In addition to these, secondary and tertiary aims were designed for. These are to facilitate: 

• [2] Members conducting impactful individual or team research

• [2] Members scaling projects and organisations

• [3] Members finding opportunities (e.g. roles, further study) 

• [3] Recruiters from biosecurity or related organisations finding talent

To date networking has been the main focus, although the talent database can also be used for referrals, and in future we plan to make more personalised introductions. Opportunities offered to members are iterated based on feedback, including from biosecurity and capacity building experts and from members of the talent database. When being onboarded members are asked what types of activities OBG could do that they would find particularly useful, and a feedback form is sent out to existing members once per onboarding period (every 2-3 months). 

Information Included in the Talent Database

Members initially fill in the information for their talent database profile when being onboarded, and can later update their profile by filling in a form.

The  talent database profile is made up of four sections:

1. [Member’s] background

2. [Member’s] near-term goals and work/connection interests

3. Areas in biosecurity [member is] interested in leading projects in (whether or not [they] have a specific project idea)

4. (Optional section) Details about a specific project (or start-up) [member is] thinking about or planning on launching

You can find a copy of the full talent database profile fields and options members can select from linked here. 

Note: we are considering expanding to also having a researcher / general  talent database. The existing talent database has therefore been designed so that the profile of people in such a talent database would be the first two sections of the existing talent database profile. 

Specific Questions and Rationale

More information about the different sections, highlights of specific questions and our rationale for including them are given in this section.

Section 1: Background

This section includes basic information about the members’ background and experience,  in a way that is easily searchable. 

Basic filtering can be done by the following fields: 

• Country 

  • Note: members may also provide their city in a separate field

• Career stage

• Professional/study experience

  • Note: members can select from over 30 different options, from ‘biosecurity’ and ‘biosafety’ specifically, to various scientific, technical, policy and other backgrounds

The ‘current role’ field gives more information about the member’s work in a way that is easily to skim. The ‘bio’ field allows members to introduce themselves in more detail (in <200 words), and their LinkedIn (or their CV if they do not have LinkedIn) is linked in the relevant field. The member can also use the ‘bio’ field to highlight information from elsewhere in the talent database, and/or provide additional information they want to highlight that is not otherwise included. 

The ‘preferred contact method’ field makes it easier to reach out to specific members in a way likely to get a rapid response. 

Section 2: Near-term goals and work/connection interests

This section allows for more detailed filtering, based on the goals and interests of the members of the talent database. 

The ‘current near-term goals’ field allows for filtering for specific actions the member would like to take in the near term, and is likely useful for anyone searching the talent database. Members can select one or more options from different types of goals, with more specific options for each: 

• Enter the biosecurity field

• Develop relevant skills

• Offer your skills

• Apply for academic study/roles

• Conduct research projects

• Start/scale a project or organisation

• Find a role

• Recruit for a role

• Provide funding

The ‘biosecurity work interest area’ field allows for filtering for which areas of biosecurity the member is interested in doing work in. This could be full-time work (whether or not in a leadership role), or shorter term work such as contracting, or writing articles. Members can select one or more of 30 different options, ranging from general areas (e.g. biological weapons prevention & biodefense; health system strengthening) to more specific interventions (e.g. DNA synthesis screening; personal protective equipment), to expanding overall biosecurity capacity (e.g. stakeholder communication & outreach; talent, careers & training).

This field was primarily included for referrals or recruitment to roles, rather than getting projects launched, as well as to allow for future expansion of the talent database for non-leadership roles without redesigning it. 

The ‘start-up founder/co-founder interest’ field enables filtering for members:

• Who are already running a start-up (e.g. for advice)

• Who are actively setting up a start-up (e.g. for co-founder matching, peer support, looking for opportunities to join a founding team)

• Who want to start a start-up in the near- or longer term as a firm or potential plan (e.g. for networking with potential future co-founders). 

Members can select more than one option, for example if they are both running an existing start-up, and would like to start another in the medium-longer term. This question is in this section both because it is about high-level ambitions rather than specifics of the start-up, and to allow for future expansion of the talent database (e.g. to help identify someone who does not yet have the experience to launch a relevant organisation, but may have a firm medium-longer term plan to do so).

This section also has three main text-based questions to help with networking and making connections, which members are encouraged to spend more time on:

• Who I’m most interested in connecting with

  • Description: Give details about the types of people you would find it most valuable to connect with (e.g. what skills or backgrounds do they have). 

• How others can help me

  • Description: Give details about what specifically people can help you with. You might find it useful to connect this directly with your near- (or longer) term goals. 

• How I can help others

  • Description: Give details about how specifically you might be able to help others, e.g. providing mentorship in a specific area, relevant experience you have for projects. 

To find relevant people, these questions can be generally skimmed through, a keyword search can be done, or these questions can be looked at after initial filtering has been done. 

Members can also give more details about their near-term goals, however this is an optional field, and more useful after filtering for near-term goals.

Section 3: General Leadership Interest

This section allows for filtering for members interested in leading projects in specific areas of biosecurity, and which aspects of that area they are interested in focussing on (e.g. technical, policy). 

Projects could be led through OBG, with another organisation, through launching a start-up, or independently. This section is therefore also useful for referrals and for recruiting for leadership roles.

Filtering can be done on the following: 

• Leadership interest area and primary leadership interest area: Areas, and the main area, that the member is interested in leading a project in. 

  • The same options can be selected as in the ‘biosecurity work interest area' field: Members can select from 30 different options, ranging from general areas (e.g. biological weapons prevention & biodefense; health system strengthening) to more specific interventions (e.g. DNA synthesis screening; personal protective equipment), to expanding overall biosecurity capacity (e.g. stakeholder communication & outreach; talent, careers & training).

  • Many projects will intersect different areas, and for the ‘leadership interest area’ field members can select multiple options. However, having a single response in the ‘primary leadership interest area’ field makes filtering easier, and members are asked to select their best fit category. 

• Potential projects focus: Aspects of the overall areas of biosecurity the member is interested in leading a project in.

  • Members can select one or more of 11 different options, with examples given for each to help with selection and filtering. Options include: ‘Scientific (e.g. laboratory research, field studies)’, ‘Legal & regulatory (e.g. compliance analyses, regulatory design)’, ‘Implementation (e.g. deployment/scale-up planning, technology transfer)’

There is also an optional text-based question where members can give more information about their overall leadership interest, or about their previous responses in this section. 

Section 4: Specific Project

This optional section is intended for people with specific project ideas that they have recently or are currently launching, or that they are planning on or interested in launching in the near-term. This section therefore allows for filtering of specific projects.

The format aims to give potential co-founders, team members, collaborators and funders the information they need to gauge whether they are interested in working on or supporting the project. If interested, they can then reach out to the relevant member of the talent database. 

Filtering can be done by: 

• Specific project type: i.e. ‘research project’, ‘start-up pilot/trial period’,  or ‘start-up’

• Specific project area and specific project focus: which area of biosecurity the project is in, and which aspects (e.g. technical, policy) it covers

• Timeline to launch: if the project/start-up is already running, actively being set up, or when in the future it is planned

• Requirements to launch: if the project is ready to launch, or whether additional team members or resources are needed

• Currently looking for: if the project is currently looking for co-founders, collaborators, team members, funding, operational support, or other support

The ‘specific project one-sentence summary’ field allows for quick assessment of what specifically the project is about.  

More details of the project can be found in the ‘specific project summary’ field. The field has the following description, which gives recommendations to members about what information they should provide: 

Write a summary of your project in up to 4000 characters (approx 1-1.5 pages). This could include things such as:

(i) enough background for someone with little context to understand why it is important

(ii) description of the project, including your main aims or deliverables, and timelines for these

(iii) why you think this specific project is impactful, and how you plan to evaluate this

(iv) any existing team members, confirmed collaborators or track record

(v) what your next steps are and what you need for this (e.g. expanding on your answer to the ‘currently looking for’ question)

To find relevant projects, we recommend first doing initial filtering and/or looking through the ‘specific project one-sentence summary’ field, before then reading the information in the longer ‘specific project summary’ field.

Accessing Information on the Talent Database

Members of the talent database give consent about how they would like their talent database profile to be shared and used.  They can select their data sharing consent for each option individually, so a specific profile may be available in some locations and not others. 

The talent database is accessible in the following locations in the near-term: 

• OBG Slack (current)

• Other biosecurity Slacks/groups (near-term)

Specific profiles may also be shared with the following individuals or organisations:

• Potential funders

• Organisations asking for referrals to opportunities

Information from the talent database may be used in referrals, or for making connections, even if the full profile is not shared. 

Close

In future posts, we will summarise how we think the talent database can be best used by different people (e.g. members, recruiters,  funders) to meet their aims. Sign up to our mailing list here to be notified when we publish these. 

Join our talent database: apply here, form reviewed every 2-3 months

Get referrals for roles: email referrals@oxfordbiosecuritygroup.com 

Find opportunities to fund: email fundingreferrals@oxfordbiosecuritygroup.com