Research funding

Green paper ‘asks the right questions’, including whether crown research institutes should collocate with universities

Maria Leptin says that if improving success rates means expanding the funder’s budget, voters could play an important role

UK scientists may increasingly want to take the £7 billion for research offered by Treasury rather than wait for EU wrangling to finish, say research experts

Ninety per cent federal funding cut will leave research projects unfinished and cause massive brain drain, experts warn

Funding changes will help generate ‘intellectual infrastructure’, but universities harbour reservations

Philanthropist outlines details of five-year investment but says government spending cuts will demand ‘ruthless’ funding decisions

Sector expresses relief that investment will increase to £20 billion by end of parliament, but fears investment not enough to maintain ‘superpower’ aspiration

Chancellor confirms delay to funding increase but says government will maintain commitment to overall target

Emphasis on student earning outcomes risks overlooking the bigger picture, say academics

Continuing delays on Horizon Europe association could strengthen hand of Westminster figures who were ‘never that enamoured’ about joining

Commons committee chair also raises concerns about UKRI chair’s lobbying of ministers ahead of spending review

Research funding increase must come with ‘place-based ecosystem’ or it will not boost productivity, says Hepi report co-authored by Lincoln leader

Sector heads call for Westminster government to stick to science spending pledge and set out how ministers will achieve it

The spending review must confirm the substance beneath the government’s froth about becoming a science superpower, says James Wilsdon

Economic and Social Research Council warned that current three-and-a-half-year funding period is ‘insufficient’ and is causing student hardship

Lotteries for viable funding applications may be one way forward, say Lisette Jong, Thomas Franssen, Stephen Pinfield and James Wilsdon

Political conciliator finds moment of medical success against Covid a good time to let Biden find successor

Chancellor says investment in new technology could revolutionise economy in same way as steam engine or internet

Ahead of spending review, research universities group argues new fund would help level up UK regions by creating spin-offs

George Freeman must urgently strike alliances across Whitehall to preserve UK government’s ‘once in a generation’ research pledge, say experts

Research England makes one-off awards for government priorities but no uplift for recurrent research funding

Australian researchers’ funding hopes hinge not on whether rule was wrong, but on whether wrong rule was applied correctly

Ministerial response offers ‘no comfort that there is not a plan afoot to abandon that very specific promise’ on science spending, says ex-minister Greg Clark

But thousands of Australian researchers remain in limbo, with reviled rule still in force for grants under consideration

The EU’s massive cash injection with double Italy’s languishing higher education budget, says Ferruccio Resta

Fears for physics pipeline as 32 researchers relinquish up to A$22m for citing preprints

Long-standing challenge on research disclosures grows more urgent with rising China tensions and anti-Asian discrimination

Government told to disclose impacts on academics as outrage escalates over preprints rule

ARC says it communicated rule change clearly, but applicants say it forces them to plagiarise to qualify for funding

Education minister concedes impact of plummeting international enrolments, but says things would be worse without intervention

Publishers criticise continued embrace of ‘green’ model alongside ‘gold’, but funder insists it has struck the right balance

Policy revamp aims to tackle gender inequality

Overall funding decisions more than double to almost 40,000 thanks to Covid-related grants

Formalised defence R&D ties could recoup one-quarter of the research funds lost from Australia’s ailing international education industry

For the first time prestigious funder has explicitly told academics they must not include metric when applying for grants

Tens of millions of euros in grants were still agreed by 2020, but UK collaborations may have been affected

Outgoing UKRI chair says this autumn’s spending review will be a ‘make-or-break moment’

Trudeau creates mandatory review ahead of grant awards, aligning nation closer to US in suspicion of China

Funder’s policy lead on open access talks of ‘ring-fenced path’ to cover costs

Academic scientists, frustrated by years of lean budgets, again urged to value stimulating corporate innovation

Wave of money is ‘truly unprecedented’, says Italian rectors’ head, but some worry the money is too focused on technology transfer and that national plans overlap

Boris Johnson’s new ministerial council has revived discussion over who controls science spending and whether industrial strategy requires government to start ‘picking winners’

Scientists for EU says country now needs a plan to regain lost ground as Horizon Europe kicks off

Applicants will have to certify that they have not been found guilty of bullying or harassment under new policy

New programme for universities modelled on version that increased racial equity within NIH’s own laboratories

Mandatory reporting of abuse allegations and anonymous whistleblowing that have led to action in US should be considered, say campaigners

Going Global session also told that funders should pool resources to ensure longer-term stability  

Polish professor warns of increasing ‘tension’ between national research funding and global science

Tally of cases since 2018 largely stems from anonymous hotline and mostly involves sexual misconduct

Recent cuts and scares have cast doubt on ministers’ commitment to harnessing science in pursuit of a levelled-up, post-Brexit innovation economy. Questions also remain about how funding should be distributed and directed. Jack Grove examines the lessons from history and from overseas

The science base, public and private, needs certainty over how promised funding increases will be spent, says Chris Skidmore

Holyrood administration announces extra cash to assist with applications to Horizon Europe

Funder’s reduced budget for 2021-22 reflects loss of pro-science adviser and mindset of new Treasury boss, say Whitehall and research council insiders

Latest attempt to replicate Darpa brings bipartisan praise but also wariness of potential harm to basic health research

Japan could take inspiration from European models, says former Max Planck head

No explanation for delay that kept 15 academics on tenterhooks for months

Total budget for UK’s main public research funder is down 5 per cent

Senior leaders question why research funder has not tried harder to save at-risk projects

Funding body confirms expected dates for cuts to overseas research projects

Researchers press for ministerial code of conduct amid fears that latest political intervention may never be resolved