Research funding

Chris Skidmore reiterates desire for UK to associate to Horizon Europe, but says negotiations are unlikely to begin until the second quarter of 2020

Research umbrella organisation puts off decision on whether to introduce ultimate sanction until more evidence is available

If the point of missions is to win taxpayers’ support for an increased science budget, accountability will be vital, says Harry Farmer

Coalition finally succeeds in dispatching the nest egg it initiated last decade

‘Potential paralysis of a no-deal Brexit and the current state of chaos are hurting UK science’, says Royal Society president Sir Venki Ramakrishnan

Boris Johnson’s most senior adviser appears to have big plans for the research community, but his ‘scientist-as-hero’ vision may misunderstand the nature of modern scholarship

Queen’s Speech raises question of whether Dominic Cummings would seek to reshape entire research funding system

Green Paper under consideration to explore nature and scope of ‘mission’ approach, while funding increases under discussion could range to the ‘eye-popping’

Finding illuminates US health agency’s overall avoidance of human-centred research

Some parliamentarians hope Bulgaria’s Mariya Gabriel will reshape the EU’s new research package to spread grants more evenly across the continent

Recent controversy over the future directions of both Stanford and Melbourne university presses have raised questions about the role of in-house publishing arms in a world of commercialisation, impact agendas, alternative facts – and ever-diminishing monograph sales. Anna McKie reports

Chris Skidmore tells Tory conference meeting he wants UK research funding to emulate EU’s approach

Academic also claims European Commission officials told him UK coordinators would be kicked out in event of no-deal Brexit

Commons Science and Technology Committee also calls for rebalancing of funding between disciplines and greater support for small, specialist institutions

Assessment of English universities’ commercialisation activities and industry partnerships to guide allocations ‘in the longer term’

Europe and Japan take different approach to US and China on potential risks of technology

National Institutes of Health’s reasons for pursuing scientists reflect behaviours long tolerated among domestic academics

Despite reservations over staying on in Trump administration, National Institutes of Health director is glad he did

Research leaders welcome announcements but warn of impact of no-deal departure

Lords committee says Augar panel ‘missed mark’ in not considering how reducing tuition fees could force universities to divert research income to teaching

Updated settlement ties racial and gender distribution to national shares of population

Countries can boost each other’s prospects with a united appeal to colossal research funding scheme, say sector leaders

Scientists still stymied by federal restrictions as legalisation in states increases demand for answers on risk and benefits

As Labor hands EIF potential lifeline, ex-chair of its board says money could insulate HE against international income risks

New analysis charts 40-fold increase in quantity of co-authored papers and 100-fold surge in quality

Evolutionary processes are slow, but University of Oxford research shows the scheme is improving gender equality, says Pavel Ovseiko

Universities ‘on the front line’ as authoritarianism rises and other European nations may follow Hungary’s example, leaders and academics warn

The long overdue top-up to England’s quality-related funding stream is a reminder that project grants are not the only show on the beach

Even in disciplines in which research is inherently inexpensive, ‘grant capture’ is increasingly being adopted as a metric to judge academics and universities. But with success rates typically little better than one in five, rejection is the fate of most applications. Six academics give their tips on how to improve the odds

The next EU commissioner for research and innovation must fight for the Horizon Europe budget but resist timetables for scientific delivery, says Jan Palmowski

US’ top producer of research papers hopes stance will force major gains in open access

Budget for 2019-20 promises £45 million in quality-related support, but universities say more is needed

Budget restrictions, a focus on teaching and a paucity of internationalisation all hold back Turkish research, says Hakan Ergin

UK’s public research funding overseer argues debate over political control of public finances is a ‘false dichotomy’ and distracts from bigger societal issues

But multibillion-dollar cash injection risks further sidelining the humanities

Sector leaders question why it has taken so long to address long-running decline in value of quality-related research funding

Final budget, pending Senate and White House input, may be slightly less generous

Chris Skidmore tells peers he hopes for announcement soon but acknowledges that UK is ‘in a very strange place politically’

Director of Universities UK International says some institutions have modelled falls in EU student enrolment of up to 80 per cent

UCL vice-provost warns that universities' ability to cross-subsidise grants is declining

Raising UK outlay to international levels will reap rich technological, social and political rewards for the next Conservative Party leader, says Sarah Main 

There is nothing devilish about government oversight of research, but the Haldane Principle checks more sulphurous instincts, says Paul Jump

Last year’s scandal over the ministerial vetoing of Australian research grants coincided with the centenary of the fabled principle that politicians should keep out of such decisions. But with governments becoming increasingly ideological and desperate for innovation-fuelled growth, does scientific autonomy have a future? Rachael Pells investigates 

Private funders and charitable foundations urged to support vital studies

Next step of Plan S will require publishers to release acceptance rates and review times

Consultation responses had called for start of mandate to be pushed back from January 2020

C$30 million cut also hits research on regenerative medicine

‘Competition in scientific research has gone too far,’ says government-appointed committee proposing wide-ranging reform package

Nanomedicine pioneer will replace Jean-Pierre Bourguignon

Call follows revelations about Coca-Cola’s influence over some sponsored research

Gravy train being shunted into siding as interest from Chinese mainland wanes

Harvard experiment finds nearly half of academics amended their assessment of a research application after seeing randomly generated ‘expert scores’

Coalition, Labour and Greens respond to sector survey

Academics say evaluation conducted to decide distribution of Performance-Based Research Fund is no longer helpful

Research agency stresses workforce risk in low number of emerging researchers

Vice-president says private sector funding is vital to compensate for decline in public investment in basic research

Jean-Eric Paquet tells university heads that there is now a ‘consensus’ that research must help deliver sustainable development goals

Skewed funding blunts government influence over what gets researched, expert warns

Leading academics express doubt about UK government’s ability to underwrite large EU funding packages

After more than doubling its spending since the financial crisis, Germany’s long budget boom is set to come to an end