Research

New consortium will seek to ‘supercharge’ efforts to address lack of black researchers in UK academia

‘Transactional’ approach to funding reform unlikely to lead to ‘radical’ changes, according to Universities UK president

No word on whether US research partnerships must be registered for possible veto, after American authorities suspend contracts on ideological grounds

Call for rethink over how funder’s money is used to underwrite professors’ salaries, as overhaul of key schemes continues

Seven in 10 institutions allow students to take remote tests unsupervised, casting doubt on ‘validity’ of degrees, study finds

Discussions about the shape of the next framework programme, due to begin in 2028, are already under way. But the European Commission’s deafening silence is stoking fears that it wants to refocus research funding on short-term industrial competitiveness. Emily Dixon reports

While newcomer and frontrunner Mark Carney might be expected to back innovation funding, academics do not expect a loosening of student migration rules any time soon

‘A poor communicator who ghosts me’: disaffected research students and supervisors have similar grievances about each other, survey reveals

Sector bodies hit out at lack of focus on cash-strapped sector crucial for driving economic growth and defence innovation

‘Existential crisis’ in arts and humanities exacerbates risk that axed academics will not be able to find new roles, subject associations fear

One researcher was found to have presented 32 papers at same conference in study that examines growing trend towards ‘repeat authors’

Digital fashion founder will head up £1.1 billion innovation funding agency after a year-long search for new executive chair

Bureaucracy fears as new Research England rules push for ‘robust data’ on where quality-related funding is spent

‘Default target’ of sex questions should be sex at birth, with ‘male’ and ‘female’ the possible answers, says government-commissioned review

China’s neighbours benefit in list of the world’s most international universities, as giant expands its network

Rules designed for adversaries do not help against friends, expert warns, as US grills Australian researchers on DEI, ‘environmental justice’, ‘gender ideology’ and China links

Tropical disease researcher and parliamentarian Lauren Sullivan talks about difficulties of returning to the lab after a career break, juggling family, science and politics, and why Dundee’s life science sector must be supported

Ministers and MEPs are right to insist that FP10 should focus on much more than just immediate economic priorities, says Jan Palmowski

Longer-term funding isn’t a panacea but there is plenty of evidence that it can make a difference, say Grace Gottlieb and Matt Davis

Board minutes show research council leaders assessing options including ‘NHS Catapult’ as they seek to meet government priorities

Changes to science policy organisation decried as political interference after long-standing tensions

The value of the UK’s research block grants has fallen significantly since 2010, as policymakers have focused funding upticks on projects with compelling narratives. And in a tough financial climate, there are widespread fears that the trend could continue. Jack Grove examines what would be lost if it does

UK’s research-intensive universities urge increase in value of Higher Education Innovation Fund and creation of new ‘Spark fund’

Staff and politicians fear ‘nothing is safe’ at Scottish university looking to cut more than 600 jobs

ScienceDirect innovation allows academics to interrogate articles and compare experiments

Government drive to boost research commercialisation struggles to get off the ground at public universities

The administration’s hostile edicts on DEI and science funding are sending shock waves through the US’ world-leading higher education system. Here, we present five takes on what is unfolding

Recording gender identity but not sex perpetuates historical exclusion of women from research, paper argues

Lack of campus visits by Patrick Vallance does not reflect his extensive communication with higher education sector, says science department

Yale University joins several other leading research institutions in pausing hiring or spending

Research assessment has made huge progress but measurement of community remains half-baked, say Mats Persson and Jan Ch. Karlsson

Coalition has departed from usual practice, outlining a comprehensive suite of changes if it regains government

Arriving from outside academia means UK Research and Innovation’s new chief executive is more willing to take unorthodox but correct strategic decisions, say scientists

Conference also hears that proposed streamline of ARC grant schemes will give early career researchers a ‘leg-up’

UK Atomic Energy Authority boss will take over at £9 billion UK research funder in the summer, when Ottoline Leyser steps down

More transparent and democratic decision-making within UK universities could have helped institutions avoid the financial mistakes that are now resulting in mass redundancies, argue Nicholas Grant and Nadine Zubair

University Grants Commission's move to hand power to universities to judge journal quality faces resistance from research watchdogs

UK universities must end use of year-long contracts that keep researchers in ‘perpetual limbo’, says union-led manifesto

Delayed introduction of England’s campus free speech act will help scholars confront bias confirmation propagated by social media bubbles, argue Carla Ferstman and Faten Ghosn

Lack of transparency over how excellence-based allocations are spent makes them vulnerable as Russell Group makes case for flexible research funding

‘No academic friend of mine is not deeply worried about this,’ says scholar

Science minister tells Commons committee that he is more interested in maximising impact of science spending than increasing total outlay, as he emphasises need to get visa policies ‘right’

The new commission’s competitiveness compass is shockingly deficient in its approach to research, says Jan Palmowski

Year-long succession process and budget delays have prompted speculation over possible reforms to £1 billion UK innovation research agency

Distinguished scientists who left Greece’s National Council for Research, Technology and Innovation criticise fragmented oversight and excess bureaucracy

Ten thousand back call for Antoine Petit to resign as president of French state research organisation

All we are seeing is a necessary course correction to counter the infiltration of bad actors, say Leslie McIntosh, René Aquarius and Dorothy Bishop

Five years on since the UK officially left the European Union, Patrick Jack examines whether the consequences for universities have been as drastic as many feared at the time

Difficulty of dual career, higher student debts and university funding crisis explain why fewer medics are doing research, MRC study finds

Government ‘cherry-picked’ ideas with commercial application, despite reviewer warnings against ‘naive’ expectations of windfall profits, scientists say

Educational interventions are like making a soufflé that may or may not rise, say Billy Wong and Lydia Fletcher

Questions raised about institution’s reputation as it seeks to reduce proportion of self-funded research in bid to plug £20 million black hole

Scientists urge UK to adopt network approach for landmark project bringing public data together

The number of staff in roles serving the whole of UKRI is not evidence of centralisation, top-down control or added bureaucracy, says Ottoline Leyser

The outgoing prime minister was widely welcomed by researchers as something of a knight in shining armour after Stephen Harper’s ‘anti-science’ administration. But his international student caps have made him look more like a horseman of the apocalypse to many observers. Patrick Jack reports

New strategy encourages partnerships between Chinese and foreign universities as US institutions shutter joint projects 

Switzerland’s agreement to join Horizon Europe follows a roller-coaster decade during which it was twice excluded from EU research programmes owing to political squabbles with the European Commission. Emily Dixon assesses the fallout – and asks whether a third exclusion can be ruled out

Seven institutes folded into four in major reshaping of research landscape

Analysis of progression criteria warns ‘obsession with frequently ill-suited metrics’ only serves to ‘reinforce regional inequalities’

The complexities of the 21st century and Japan’s demographic decline demand more interdisciplinarity and internationalisation, says Teruo Fujii