Horizon Scan: Research Funding in 2020

2020: all eyes to the horizon

What does 2020 hold in store for those working in the world of research funding? Here's what's on the horizon in the months ahead.
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Willetts 'Keen to Hear Views of the Sector'

After a rollercoaster couple of weeks, David Willetts has been taking stock and surveying the brave new world he's helped to create. In a speech today he welcomed the findings of Lord Browne, and the Comprehensive Spending Review settlement, and welcomed feedback from the sector.

'I know too that people in this room will have anxieties about the shift in spending,' he stated, 'but I have to ask what the alternative is. Given the fiscal crisis and the pressure that we are under, there is no option of carrying on as we are.'

It's a robust defence, and I hope he's not just whistling in the dark as he finishes by saying that 'I believe that higher education, as well as research, should be able to maintain overall levels of activity throughout this time of austerity...[and]...despite the risks associated with any change, the reforms we undertake will improve higher education in the long run.'

CSR: Good, Bad, or Ugly?

The dust has not yet settled, but the commentators are already trying to work out whether the Comprehensive Spending Review was good, bad, or indifferent for research in the UK. It's certainly a lot better than some of the scare stories we heard beforehand, which suggests that the government was canny in managing expectations.

In the Review it stated that 'a ring-fence will be maintained by BIS to ensure continuity of investment in science and research.' Which sounds good, until you realise that that will mean a 10% cut in real terms. The only area whose budget will be maintained in real terms is the MRC, as the government has made Health a priority.

You can almost hear the collective sigh of relief as everyone concerned with UK research dares to look again at government funding. Both Martin Rees, President of the Royal Society, and Imran Khan, director of the Campaign for Science and Engineering (Case), have cautiously welcomed the news.

However, there are still some nerves jangling out there, and we're not out the woods yet. We have to see the detail, and the effect the cuts will have on QR funding. Will it lead to a concentration of funding on research intensive (i.e. Russell Group) universities? Is STFC for the chop? The next few months and weeks will tell.