Letter: Real cost of RAE cuts 2

My school entered the RAE in 1992 unprepared for and untutored in the strategies needed to create a strong research base. It gained a 2. Over the next four years we built an infrastructure and gained a 3b. In 2001, we gained a 5 rating, creating a cadre of enthusiastic, internationally excellent researchers. It is a challenge to create 5-rated research on 3b funding. The enterprise and drive that achieves this must be fostered. Denial of sufficient funding to 3a and 3b groups will impoverish our nation's research futures. The RAE was never intended to do this.

Stephen Denyer
Head of the School of Pharmacy and Biomolecular Sciences
University of Brighton