Fundermentally Redesigned

So long, 2009.

In September this year it will be Fundermentals' fifth birthday. That's scary in itself: when I started writing this we were in the dog days of the Gordon Brown government, all the talk was of the next REF being entirely metrics-based, and Horizon 2020 was still being talked about as FP8.


Whilst the research (and political) landscape has changed a lot in the last five years, the blog has remained pretty much the same. With a comforting background of books and salmon pink posts, it was reassuring, but was starting to creak at the edges. With 673 posts in that time, most were buried in the depths of the archive. Also, the four distinct types of post were mixed together, which could be seen as either charming or irritating, depending upon how charitable you're feeling.

So the redesign was meant to both freshen the appearance, but also make it easier to access the archive. The main body has now been split into two, with the left given over to the most recent post, and the right to a lucky dip selection from the archive. The tabs at the top of the page give readers the chance to look at four different categories of post:

• Commentary: provides thoughtful, straight-faced analysis of research funding policy and the broader research environment;
• Humour: brings together the latest lookalikes, news from Fundermental Towers University, and the small dramas that are played out across Funderland. 
• Help & Advice: offers up notes, hints and tips from Kent's Grants Factory sessions, as well as other events nationally and internationally. 
• Noticeboard: is where the dry - but important - posts go, on upcoming events, changes to policy and other items of note. 

I'd welcome your thoughts, and who knows? Your input might actually lead me to tweak the blog on a more regular basis than once ever every five years.