Mapping Regional Strengths

A lot has happened since July 2015 when the then Chancellor, George Osborne talked about working with universities and other partners to map regional strengths. The article below, published in March this year, looked at their plans, and the report from the Council for Science and Technology that had just done such a mapping exercise. What with Brexit, the HE White Paper, the Stern and Nurse Reviews, well: attention has been elsewhere. Still, an interesting reminder of how far we've travelled in six months - for better or worse. 

Global Challenges Research Fund: A Primer

Introduction

The Global Challenges Research Fund (GCRF) was announced in last year’s spending review (December 2015), and came as something of a surprise to the sector. The previous spending review (2010) had protected the research budget from the worst ravages of austerity, but it was still a flat settlement, and funding was looking a little threadbare five years in.

George Osborne, the Chancellor at the time, sought to remedy this somewhat, and announced that the research budget would rise from £4.7bn to £5.2bn by the end of the parliament (2020).

Source: THE

However, there was a catch. The extra £1.5bn would come from a different pot. It would not come from the budget of the Dept for Business, Innovation and Skills, but rather from International Development, and would aim ‘to develop new solutions to the complex multidimensional problems faced by developing countries.’ Note how the Science budget stagnates in the chart on the right, and GCRF rises.

CSR: Main Points for Research & Innovation

CSR: How do things look for R&I?

George Osborne announced the government’s plans for spending over the next five years in today’s Comprehensive Spending Review (CSR). Whilst these are still to be confirmed via Hansard, my colleague Jill Hurst made a note of the main points relating to research and innovation spending. Thanks to Jill for making these notes, but do please treat with caution until formally verified.

The overall theme was ‘Reform and Rebuild’, and four main areas were identified: