‘Technocrat, not guru, needed’ as search resumes for UKRI boss

The new head of the UK’s research councils is likely to be left with an organisational role as science minister Lord Vallance of Balham takes charge of policy issues, according to experts.

The new Labour government has reopened the search for a successor to Dame Ottoline Leyser, who is stepping down as chief executive of UK Research and Innovation (UKRI) next June, despite the recruitment process being well advanced – with three candidates understood to have been shortlisted – before this summer’s election.

Dame Ottoline’s strong engagement with science policy and research culture issues was widely believed to have helped land her the UKRI job in 2020, overseeing the UK’s nine research councils and their £9 billion annual budget.

However, that kind of reforming zeal might not be so desirable for the £235,000-a-year position this time, said John Womersley, former executive chair of the Science and Technology Facilities Council, who said strategic issues were now more likely to be reserved for Lord Vallance, who served as chief scientific adviser during the Covid-19 pandemic.

“Like it or not, Vallance himself is going to do the ‘vision thing’ and set the strategic direction and negotiate with the Treasury [on budgets],” said Professor Womersley, adding: “He will be hands-on and engaged.”

“Despite the inevitable rhetoric about wanting a ‘visionary leader’, what they actually need is more of a chief operating officer,” he continued. “UKRI needs someone who can get on top of organisational costs and efficiency and poor staff morale and all those COO-type things.

“UKRI needs someone to deliver to Vallance’s vision, not develop a competing one.”

That more technocratic role could rule out some more high-profile candidates keen to put their own stamp on UK science, such as a Nobel-prizewinning scientist, or an overseas applicant.

James Naismith, who heads the University of Oxford’s Mathematical, Physical and Life Sciences Division, agreed that Lord Vallance would take a leading role on UKRI strategy.

Describing Lord Vallance, who held top-level roles at GlaxoSmithKline and UCL, as “incredibly able”, he said: “He will be CEO in all but name.”

That could benefit science overall because Lord Vallance was well placed to deliver on “the most important things”, namely “persuading the Treasury to invest in science and UKRI to focus its portfolio by prioritisation”, said Professor Naismith.

“Ottoline has done as well as could be done, but the whole UKRI-Department for Science, Innovation and Technology interface, plus Cabinet Office rules, shape and limit how UKRI can operate to a significant degree,” he said.

According to the job advert, the next UKRI chief executive should be “an inspirational leader from either R&D-intensive industries or the university and charitable research sectors…with a track record of leading one or more large, complex and diverse organisations through successful change”.

That could open the door for a former vice-chancellor or ex-research council head, with the new administration no longer stressing the importance of recruiting from “outside the academic world”, as noted by former science minister Andrew Griffith, now the shadow science secretary.

Other potential candidates could include Sir Chris Whitty, the UK’s chief medical adviser, who worked closely with Lord Vallance during the pandemic, although the appointment of another older white male candidate could face similar criticisms to those levelled at Sir Paul Nurse’s bid to return to lead the Royal Society, said Professor Womersley.

“Going with someone familiar like Whitty would be subject to the same criticisms that have been levelled at the Royal Society – some will ask if someone newer could do a better job,” he said.

jack.grove@timeshighereducation.com