`This is a time for broad thinking'

The Economic and Social Research Council has identified nine key themes to guide it into the next millennium. Kam Patel reports

Nine research themes, ranging from the behaviour of the national and global economy to the environment and the forces that exclude people from society, will form the backbone of work funded by the Economic and Social Research Council over the next five years.

ESRC chief executive Ron Amann says the council identified the themes through consultation with social scientists and users of social and economic research and with an eye on the results of the government's first Foresight exercise. "There has been a big change at the council over the past four years. Enormous progress has been made to create transparency in what we do for the benefit of both the public and the users. The themes are a major result of that process."

Examples of the impact of the council's work are not hard to find. The government's welfare-to-work project was heavily influenced by the work of the centre for economic performance at the London School of Economics. Whitehall has also been tapping into the work the ESRC has been conducting on constitutional reform, governance and regulatory frameworks. The council also has a strong programme covering aspects of the urban environment, including renewal and integrated transport - another important area that is now high on the political agenda.

Meeting the needs of these organisations, government policy-makers and the public has led the ESRC to its "big idea" - establishing a national centre for evidence-based policy that would hold the vast amount of data generated by ESRC research programmes and that could be easily accessed by the users. Professor Amann says: "It is quite an original, fresh idea that would help reflect the fact that interest in social science has never been higher among the public. I also think the ESRC has been very successful in being up to speed with key political and economic issues, even anticipating well before they became mainstream."

Over 1998-2003, the council plans to spend about 65 per cent of its budget (Pounds 66 million for 1996-97) on the nine themes. It has already established strong research programmes in many of the areas (see box), but the creation of specific themes has helped to provide focus for what the council believes should be its core research priorities as it enters the new millennium.

Preliminary spending targets have been set for the themes. The ESRC stresses, however, these may change when the comprehensive spending review budget settlement for all of the research councils is announced this month.

As might be expected, one theme is economic performance and development, which provisionally has been allocated Pounds 5.4 million over the five years. In the past, substantial investments in the area have been made in various guises with notable results - the council's economic beliefs and behaviour programme is producing important results in such fields as insurance, pensions, welfare and economic behaviour models. Activities planned as part of the theme include commissioning an interdisciplinary programme aimed at developing new macroeconomic theories to help manage the economy; a project on the changing nature of employment with emphasis on the impact of new technologies and work practices.

With its globalisation, regions and emerging markets research theme, provisionally allocated Pounds 3.4 million, the council is seeking to consolidate existing activity. This area will take in research that covers the effect of globalisation on societies, culture and international trade and security. A noteworthy recent investment by the council in the area is the creation of a centre for the study of globalisation and regionalisation at Warwick University. Activities planned include a programme examining the development of transnational networks in global labour and commodity markets and studies of international finance. The ESRC also has plans for a project under the theme "One Europe or Several?". This will take a look at European governance over the next five years and the implications for statehood, national identity and economic performance and security.

A relatively new research interest dealing with the interaction between people and technology will be formalised as a theme. The council views this area as "opening up exciting and important areas for social science research". With a budget of Pounds 3.2 million, work under the technology and people theme will include the impact of electronic and information technologies on individual and organisational performance and other social and behavioural factors. Planned activities include the launch of a programme on the social aspects of new medical technologies, particularly those associated with human genome research and genetic modification.

In the process of developing its new strategy, the council has discovered that the number and range of users of its research is far bigger than it first imagined. Having kicked off consultations with just 30 organisations, the list has mushroomed to nearly 300.

Professor Amann, whose speciality is Russian and East European studies (he is an expert on the Russian national science programme), believes the big increase in public and government interest in the results of the work of social scientists reflects the uncertainties of the postmodern world.

No longer are there straightforward questions and answers, he says. He recalls that when he was a student in the 1960s, some contemporaries would look at communism as a panacea, while others looked to the market for salvation. But with central planning having collapsed and unfettered markets perceived to be seriously flawed, things are becoming grey. "I think ordinary people need a kind of route map to deal with it all," Professor Amann says. "That is a big challenge for social scientists. It is not just about the valuable contribution their work can and does make to companies and government. It should also be about dealing with the big picture, big ideas, because this really is a time for broad thinking."

The council is hoping for a good allocation to help it not only put into train its tightly argued new strategy but also to meet challenges that Professor Amann believes threaten the long-term future of social science and economics research in the United Kingdom. Although much of the ESRC's effort has gone into identifying and developing new themes, Professor Amann wants to be able to strengthen substantially funding for responsive-mode grants for non-thematic work. "While we can certainly point to examples where we have anticipated and acted upon issues before they emerge on a large scale, generating a need for research findings, it is something that has to be nurtured. Support for non-thematic work is essential because we can encourage the emergence of ideas, new ways of looking at things. This, in time, has a direct effect on the development of future themes."

Then there is the problem of meeting demand for grants. The ESRC is inundated with high-quality bids, a proportion of which it has to decline for lack of funds, Professor Amann says. He is also "very concerned" that the UK is facing a serious shortage of high-quality home-grown economics researchers. "To a degree we are operating in a outdated paradigm. We have paid a lot of attention to the movement of high-quality graduates into business, commerce, industry and government, but I do not think we have done as much to encourage them to stay in academe to advance research."

Certainly Professor Amann can understand that the salaries that top economics graduates can command are a strong inducement to their going into industry. "I would like to be able to encourage them to stay in academe and carry out research. The council has increased its graduate stipend by Pounds 1,000 to Pounds 6,500. It would be great if we could increase it further."

ESRC research themes and provisional allocation (1998-2003)

Economic performance and development Pounds 5.4 million

Environment and sustainability Pounds 3.4 million

Globalisation, regions and emerging markets Pounds 3.4 million

Governance and regulation Pounds 3.5 million

Technology and people Pounds 3.2 million

Innovation Pounds 5.4 million

Knowledge, communication and learning Pounds 4.5 million

Lifespan, lifestyles and health Pounds 5.0 million

Social inclusion and exclusion Pounds 5.0 million