There's been a bit of a change of tone in how UKRI leadership is talking about the funding reforms underway Ian Chapman acknowledged this week that “uncertainty about funding is an unhelpful overlay when already faced with great challenges” and said UKRI would engage “more concertedly” ...

Another update from #UKRI CEO on #UKsciencefunding #UKRI www.ukri.org/news/ukri-ce... No new information and fails to address/explain the severe funding rate cuts taking place at MRC for the round currently under review (Sept2025). That's 2025/26 budget so should *not* be affected by SR.

Sunday thoughts. Nurse’s reason for not expelling Musk from the Royal Society is “fellows should only be expelled for fraudulent science” www.theguardian.com/science/2026... Worth remembering - in 2018, Nurse was pretty ambivalent about repercussions for fraud too www.nature.com/articles/d41...

Mention of a “meaningful consultation” in this thread. We can dream I guess? In practice we still know diddly squat about what’s going on.

The International Day of Women and Girls in Science is definitely one to celebrate. We have come a long way, and the future is bright and hopeful. But to get there, we need to keep acknowledging the systemic biases that sadly still exist nowadays 👇🏻

Further clarifications yesterday. Thanks for flagging @nisaccom.bsky.social

the cutoff scores for #MSCA postdoc fellowships are very high this year. has the score distribution shifted compared to previous years? I made a plot with scores from past years. if scores are at ceiling level, the process becomes essentially a lottery, because minor issues can lead to deductions.

The files show a long list of storied scientists willing to spend time with Epstein after his 2008 conviction. We wade through ‘muck’ as women in science, everyday. This is the evidence. Whatever their protestations they were entirely comfortable putting the victims to one side for financial gain.

So now we have it- not only the reduction from 12-13 to 3 grants from each board recommended for funding but the budget for applicant-led research to be reduced from £200 million to £113 million per year. This is appalling, Especially given all that is happening with medical research in the US.

#neuroskyence #neurosci #PainResearch 🧪💊 By @physoc.bsky.social A brilliant scientist and leader has left us. I taught about Dr. Dolphin's work on calcium channels and gabapentin in our pharmacology curriculum. Remembering Annette Dolphin (1951 – 2026)

Four senior UKRI leaders appeared at a press briefing this morning in the wake of RPN stories over the last week about a shake-up to research council funding Our story that the MRC is expecting to fund fewer grants through applicant-led calls that closed in September last year was confirmed ...

This gets to some important points. There was always something cold, even chilling, about Brockman's "Edge" culture. That feeling still pervades some scientific circles. There's a real problem here that won't go away with Epstein. www.theverge.com/2019/9/19/20...

The peer reviewed and updated version of this work is now online (although not quite the fully formatted version). We had an existential crisis about kinesin-1 regulation while developing this work, but we are super proud of everything we put into this project. www.cell.com/iscience/ful...

In recent days there have been a number of reports about cuts to UKRI budgets and grant funding pauses. www.sciencecampaign.org.uk/analysis-and...

I watched much of Ian Chapman's (Head of @ukri.org) appearance this morning at @ukparliament.parliament.uk Science, Innovation and Technology Committee.. A few points and new information that bioscientists may find interesting... A 🧵

I think Ian Chapman's focus throughout this process has been excessively PI-centred and ignores early career researchers and training. A big funding pause doesn't cause them to worry about their jobs. It causes them to lose their jobs. And to be unable to get new ones. Their careers will be ended.

Asked if UKRI is failing to take the research community with it on reforms, Chapman said: "We have not done our communications in the right way over the last month or so" "We have not done a good enough job of engagement...that happened because of information security not being good enough"

Context - Ian Chapman is in front of the Parliamentary Science, Innovation and Technology Select Committee this morning.

Next, @isaacbarbosa1.bsky.social writes that researchers have warned that changes to applicant-led funding opportunities at the MRC and the BBSRC are hitting morale and could put jobs at risk. www.researchprofessionalnews.com/rr-news-uk-r...

Oh great

Leaks everywhere and finally we get an official statement, one that somehow manages to say a lot while; No timelines. No clarity. No acknowledgement of impact on ECRs whose careers depend UKRI funding. “Later this year” isn’t a plan. And the sector deserves better than reassurance without detail.

Pushing this out on a Sunday night is something of an acknowledgment of the epic failure in communication over the past week. There’s no apology though and not much in the way of explanation.

Today, we're sharing an open letter from our Chief Executive, Professor Sir Ian Chapman, outlining changes to UKRI investment approach, and addressing concerns about research funding and the financial position of STFC. Read his letter here: www.ukri.org/news/open-le...

At a time when the UK should be capitalising on its global reputation as a great place to do science, this is an enormous own goal. I am so sorry for all those who jobs are going to be impacted.

First BBSRC and MRC; now EPSRC. 'EPSRC has announced that applications to its programme grant scheme have been paused in the areas of energy and decarbonisation (clean growth), manufacturing and circular economy and quantum technologies.'

For God's sake, it's bad enough kicking us when we're down, you doesn't have to laugh at us as well. How on Earth are we supposed to do 'world leading' work under these circumstances. I'm downing tools for the week, this is all a load of 💩 www.timeshighereducation.com/news/three-u...

On a personal level, I think one of the hardest things is the implicit statement that the work that so many 1000's of us do, and the significant expertise that we've spent entire careers developing and making sacrifices for, is just not valued at all, on any level, by #UKRI and by the government.

And now it's obvious why our research leaders aren't speaking up, they are protected. From Liz Kendall’s speech last night - "I’m delighted to announce that the MRC Lab for Molecular Biology, in Cambridge…will receive 10-years of guaranteed funding." www.gov.uk/government/s...

Startling that this is being broadcast in the absence of any public communications by @ukri.org The academic community has a right to expect to be told first hand what is happening with response mode funding and what the immediate future looks like www.researchprofessionalnews.com/rr-news-uk-r...

The MRC has asked each of its grant review boards to recommend no more than 3 applications for funding, RPN has heard from multiple sources Normally, boards recommend an average of 12-13 bids, so the success rate this year will be tiny This affects applicant-led calls which closed in 2025...

Absolutely brutal news in the research world to kick off the day. How we're making such a mess of this I have no idea. www.researchprofessionalnews.com/rr-news-uk-r...

Some impact is unavoidable. Fewer grants = less overheads, a direct relationship. Severity will depend on the length of the "pause" (aka cancellation). Bad for all, but worst for those with lowest net liquidity, some of which have barely enough to pay next month's salaries.

At least the physicists are standing up for themselves. Still waiting for the senior leaders of biological sciences to say anything at all about MRC/BBSRC actions.

My leader column looked at how ministers' push for research budget to deliver more on economic growth will mean pain for some researchers. Already signs of squeeze on curiosity-driven research, as UKRI puts more weight on "national priorities". www.researchprofessionalnews.com/rr-news-uk-v...

There's a free text box in this online survey if anyone would like to vent their frustration at the complete absence of information about funding 'pauses'

There was a claim last year from anon RP sources that the STFC cuts stem from 'an oversight due to a lack of institutional memory within UKRI around STFC budget requirements'. What?They just forgot various fixed costs and costs of international projects already committed. Really?

Big development with some major consequences for British physics research STFC is asking asking leaders of projects it funds "to identify how their project would respond to flat cash and reductions of 20 per cent, 40 per cent and 60 per cent" Major UK science facilities are also facing cuts

Quite timely that Sir Ian Chapman, UKRI CEO, will be in front of the House of Commons Science, Innovation and Technology Committee on Tuesday next week… 👀

The reforms to UKRI under Ian Chapman are only just starting, but there are already worries about what they mean for the bread and butter, applicant-led funding calls at research councils While UKRI insists comparisons with previous years are impossible, figures from December suggest...

I am completely baffled by the total lack of any action or any evidence of speaking out from our scientific ‘leaders’. We’re in a void of information and the consequences are potentially catastrophic- especially as it looks like BBSRC are following suit.

Cute. Nice to know they have time for this while torching university based research.

Do not be surprised if in the first days of an incoming populist radical government there is an entire raft of statutory instruments and other measures prepared and ready to go, exploiting every gap in our constitutional arrangements.

Paired with the show, Bob Goldstein created the world's longest microtubule, ascending the Genome Science Building's spiral stairs, to honor Emeritus Professor Ted Salmon

Direct labeling of microtubule turnover reveals in-lattice repair and stabilization patterns in developing neurons https://www.biorxiv.org/content/10.64898/2026.01.11.698892v1

New collaborative preprint! A striking result: a disordered linker in KANK1 binds as many as 15 LC8 dimers, forming a protein rod that bridges cell membranes and microtubules! www.biorxiv.org/content/10.1...

Fist bump to anyone else caught between the need to bow down & accept the dire, broken reality of the attention economy to continue surviving via their creativity & a desire to disconnect which becomes more vast, and more potentially vital to their sense of inner peace, with every year that passes.

This is an excellent long read. I agree with the final paragraph “We’ve lost … understanding. We’ve replaced planning with market mechanisms, strategy with initiatives, and long-term thinking with political cycles.” Depressing, if you let it get to you.

A Sharon Begley byline, almost 5 years after her death. Upon hearing the news James Watson had died, a STAT reporter said in our Slack, "I wish I could read what Sharon would have written." Incredible news: Sharon in fact did pre-write a Watson obit. And it is masterful and excoriating. 🧪🧬🧫

Zihan Chen, Yongping Chai, Guangshuo Ou & Hui Wang target mutant KIF1A motor function with allele-specific intragenic suppressors & show that even modest reactivation can restore neuronal transport, offering a potential framework for therapies in KAND. journals.biologists.com/jcs/article/...