Research Funding and the Premiership

It is a truth universally acknowledged that a university in possession of a good research income must be in want of more. At the Association of Research Managers and Administrators conference in Birmingham earlier this year, Randolph Haggerty of the University of Leeds and Ann Charlett-Day of the University of Sheffield explored this perplexing maxim. Can we really all grow bigger? And, if so, how?

Like Oliver Twist, all universities want more, and many are met with disbelief. Haggerty came clean and said that his own institution aimed to increase its research income by 50 per cent. Others are even more ambitious: Kent aims to double its income and the University of Huddersfield aims to triple it. This, Haggerty suggested drily, was “challenging”.

Nevertheless, the present climate gives universities little choice. The Research Excellence Framework uses research income as a metric to measure a healthy research environment. The results of that feed through into league tables, which, in turn, inform the recruitment of students and staff.

'The Productive Researcher' by Prof Mark Reed: a Review

Prof Mark Reed

One of the most common reasons that academics give for not applying for grants is a lack of time. Buffeted and battered between the thousand competing demands of modern academia, grant writing always seems to come a poor 562nd.

And yet some manage it. It’s this mystery that Prof Mark Reed sought to resolve in his new book, The Productive Researcher. To do so, he ‘reached out to the world’s most productive researchers...and asked them how they did what they do. Their answers and the answers that emerged from my reading, both confirmed and extended my thinking.’

At this point I can picture many of you arching an eyebrow and imagining that the answer lies with teams of postdocs and some very understanding spouses. But for Reed it’s both far simpler and far harder. For him it is, as it was for TS Eliot in ‘Little Gidding’, ‘a condition of complete simplicity (costing not less than everything).’

Because the productive researcher needs to strip everything back to their prime motivating force. Why did they started in academia in the first place? It is only ‘by understanding why - really why - you are a researcher [that] you can become increasingly aware of the motives that lie behind your motives.’  And only when you understand these can you start to properly prioritise your workload.

Deconstructing the Research England Logo

Research England, the erstwhile research-focused element of Hefce, will soon join the seven research councils and Innovate UK to be the ninth pillar of UK Research and Innovation. 

It will be a key part of the higher education landscape, guiding the REF and distributing the block grant that results from it, whilst looking nervously (or should that be defensively?) sideways at its sister councils to make sure the dual support mechanism is still, well, dual.

We're all still trying to work out what it will mean for us, and are jumping on every nanogram of news that limps our way, tearing its entrails out and desperately reading them for signs of the future.

Imagine our excitement, then, when a positive behemoth of news lumbered into view with the unveiling of Research England's logo. Now you might not think that that would warrant much, but Fundermentals is nothing if not a past master at deconstructing logos. Remember this? And this? And even this?

So what are we to make of this?

Jah-vis or Nah-vis?

We were all tremendously excited to learn of the appointment of Alistair Jarvis as CEO of Universities UK (UUK).

However, we do recognise a potential problem. In the old days it was very easy to distinguish UUK chief executive officers (CEOs) from male models advertising personal grooming products (MMAPGPs). The CEOs generally looked like they'd been dressed for a job interview by their mums in a branch of Mr Byrite; the MMAPGPs were the ones in the long hair and ripped clothing.

What BBC Celebrity Can I Swap My VC for?

When the Times Higher announced the results of the Vice Chancellors' salary survey 2017 in June there was outrage in some parts of academia and beyond. The salary of Bath's VC, Prof Dame Glynis Breakwell, was 'morally indefensible', wailed the Bath Chronicle, quoting the local MP Wera Hobhouse.

However, the subsequent revelations about BBC pay has put it all in to perspective. Prof Dame Glynis' £451k could only buy you a Claudia Winkleman or a Matt Baker. Steve Wright wouldn't even get out of bed for that. However, it's worth noting that you could get three Darcey Bussells, or possibly one and a half Sue Barkers. Or, if you shop around, a newsroom including Gavin Esler, Justin Webb and Kirsty Wark.

Hmm. Maybe she's not the bargain I thought.

Well, to put things into perspective, and to offer a little light summer reading, Fundermentals is offering you a cut-out-and-keep guide to the trade in value of your VCs. It might just be worth leaving around your senior common room. Good to keep them on their toes.