Research funding

A qualified welcome for George Osborne’s real-terms protection of research, but uncertainty over how new overseas aid spending will operate

Unexpected creation of a ‘Global Challenges Research Fund’ means that if they want more money, academics may have to contribute to international development

Higher levels of stress among senior women revealed by Leadership Foundation report

However, there is confusion over the final value of the settlement, which may include 'tucking in' of Global Challenges fund

New ministerial committee could wield power over research agenda, but support expressed for new pot of interdisciplinary funding

Investment in knowledge is one of Britain’s USPs, explains Mark Samuels

Commitment not to merge the research councils appears to contradict plans for a bonfire of the quangos in BIS

Comments on spending review attributed to universities minister later removed by Royal Society of Biology

Green Paper recommends use of metrics, despite July report’s reservations

Science and Technology Committee raises fears that resource spending has not kept up with new infrastructure

Author of new book The Cunning of Uncertainty fears pressure for scientific certainty is leading researchers to make promises they cannot deliver

Much is to be decided on who will distribute research funding, but a metrics-based ‘mini-REF’ may raise eyebrows, says David Matthews

Iain Foulkes on how scientists can win part of huge grant to push forward the frontiers of cancer research

Success rates fall at five out of six councils amid warnings that the process could become ‘more of a lottery’ as reviewers are stretched

Universities of Birmingham, Glasgow and York enter top 10 after £120 million grant for quantum technology

Ellie Bothwell looks at the potential impact of Justin Trudeau’s election on the higher education system

Funding council extols virtues of Higher Education Innovation Funding as spending review cuts loom

Stephen Curry is campaigning against possible cuts to the UK research budget, and he needs your help

Director Jeremy Farrar argues that current research culture damages scientists’ ability ‘to dream’

Theses in open-access repository at Dublin City University have been downloaded almost 1.4 million times

It seems unlikely that charity donors will want to pay for university research overheads – but someone will have to eventually

Charities blame widening gap between their grants and full costs of research 

Week of university visits may lead to a broader framework agreement

Sir John makes robust defence of current set-up as he warns sector not to be ‘complacent’ about councils’ future

Physicist warns that the UK’s high scientific output is based on investment made ‘decades’ ago

Scholar says departments that did well in the research excellence framework may not have the right to ‘strut around campus’ if their field is not competitive 

Research councils thought to be under review as BIS aims to be ‘sharper, smaller, cheaper’

Discipline may fund women fairly because of a better awareness of the ‘ingrained, institutionalized male culture of universities’

Financial boost follows better than average performance in the 2014 REF

Global analysis shows hospital studies increasingly important but industry publications dip

We talk to the AHRC chief executive as he prepares to move to the School of Advanced Study

Postponement of responsive mode grants partly aimed at preserving success rates while research council makes ‘additional large investments’

BIS confirms it is looking at how to cut costs, after news emerges of ‘quick and dirty’ McKinsey review

Director of knowledge exchange hub says that the arts and humanities can play a key role in bringing creative companies and academics together

Asking R&D-heavy companies to help plug gaps in the science budget has implicit appeal but, in reality, only increased public spending is likely to keep global firms in the UK, says Paul Jump

Plunging MoD research spend compensated for over past decade by rising research council budget

The launch of Jo Johnson’s One Nation Science strategy has put place firmly on the research policy agenda, says Holly Else

Regional audits of science activity will identify areas of emerging scientific strength, says minister

We talk to the latest Sêr Cymru research chair

£246 million is big money but it is probably much less than the hit the research budget would take if the REF did not exist, says Paul Jump

Just 13 per cent of open call applications to social science funder were successful in 2014-15

Complexity of government initiatives to help commercialise university research under scrutiny 

Women made only 13 per cent of applications to flagship scheme for senior research leaders, council points out

SUSTAIN programme includes year-long training programme

The UK’s only national humanities research festival has announced funding awards to 41 universities and cultural organisations

Lobby group presses the case for UK science in the wake of BIS cuts of almost half a billion pounds

The UK needs to stop using greater efficiency in research as justification for funding cuts, a vice-chancellor and ex-research council head has said.

The Russell Group will spend £9 billion on capital projects over five years, “comparable” to the UK’s spend on hosting the Olympics, a report claims

Humanities scholars must use dash and pluck to win research cash

A disastrous open-access policy lashes the promise of the digital age to an outmoded buggy of a model, laments Martin McQuillan

Policy continues to worry academics despite research councils’ concession

RCUK has announced it will not enforce its stated embargo periods for green open access during the first five years of its new open-access policy.

Regions could be hurt by research concentration, conference told. Elizabeth Gibney reports

The government’s drive for cuts in the next spending review could jeopardise the ring-fence for science funding, as well as putting additional pressure on student finance and numbers, the sector has been warned.

Council’s chair ditches ‘misleading’ wording on strategic importance of research. Paul Jump writes

Graphene discoverer takes aim at applied bias and short-term thinking. Paul Jump reports

Astrid Wissenburg helped set the policies she will be bound by in her new OU role. Paul Jump writes

ESRC offers grants for ambition

Grant awards success rates rise but income falls for some research-intensives. Elizabeth Gibney writes

Senior scientists critical of allocation rules and assumptions behind £100m grant for ‘gold’ fees, writes Paul Jump