Some of the UK funding for major international and domestic science in line for cuts, under STFC cost-savings plan being announced by UKRI today. As previously revealed by @resprofnews.bsky.social, @francesjones.bsky.social @robinbisson.bsky.social www.researchprofessionalnews.com/rr-news-uk-r...

Major science facilities to be scaled back, UKRI confirms as it unveils final STFC cost-savings plan. STFC will also reduce project spending, despite £135m of fresh money. @francesjones.bsky.social got hold of details ahead of imminent announcement. www.researchprofessionalnews.com/rr-news-uk-r...

British participation in Cern set to decline, while major UK research facilities such as Lovell Telescope also set to be hit, after govt approves UKRI's proposal to save £160m at STFC. By @robinbisson.bsky.social @francesjones.bsky.social www.researchprofessionalnews.com/rr-news-uk-r...

UK research at Cern to shrink as government approves STFC cuts. 🚨Exclusive: Science department approves UKRI’s cost-saving proposal, with major UK facilities also facing cutbacks. www.researchprofessionalnews.com/rr-news-uk-r...

Very sad to be sharing this news: Research Professional News to discontinue publication at end of 2026. www.researchprofessionalnews.com/rr-news-uk-o...

Andy Burnham set out ambitions to put universities "at the heart of local economies" and make the UK the world's leading "innovation nation", in a speech making those goals central to his vision for rolling out "Manchesterism" across the UK. www.researchprofessionalnews.com/rr-news-uk-p...

Burnham: "growth cannot be ordered from the top down...it can only be nurtured from the bottom up". Among the sources of growth he lists: "Placing our universities at the heart of local economies, as all our mayors do, and leading the innovation economy better through start-ups and scale-ups."

Brexit 10 years on: as bad as universities feared? A decade after the #Brexit vote, universities are still grappling with consequences in research and recruitment. We take a deep dive into how the research sector has fared. www.researchprofessionalnews.com/rr-news-uk-u...

Exclusive: STFC evaluation lays bare ‘huge damage’ if cuts go ahead. Advisers warn of “major crisis” for UK research as impact assessment is sent to ministers. www.researchprofessionalnews.com/rr-news-uk-r...

Lots of important insight in this from @johnmorgan3.bsky.social Not least this from @richardaljones.bsky.social: “The Manchester success story is real—there is a productivity increase” Starmer was criticised for lacking a clear economic plan Will devolved R&D be part of Burnham's alternative?

Peer-reviewed papers are ‘old hat science’, says millionaire investor. Candy Crush businessman Mel Morris says universities “must embrace AI” to transform into economic powerhouses. www.researchprofessionalnews.com/rr-news-uk-i...

‘More radical’ approach urged to cope with rising research grant bids. Universities must help ‘limit the flow’ of applications as funders grapple with volume, experts say. www.researchprofessionalnews.com/rr-news-uk-r...

I spoke to a few people involved in randomisation in research funding in some way for this piece, none of whom seemed to be aware that UKRI had moved towards lotteries being an optional tool in grant assessment Most were also supportive of the idea in general, but there were plenty of questions 🧵

The European Research Council is reversing controversial restrictions on grant applications it announced last week. ERC president Maria Leptin makes clear that opposition from researchers drove the reversal. Story by @francesjones.bsky.social www.researchprofessionalnews.com/rr-news-euro...

FT article effectively sets out the stats on explosion of university business courses, pinpointing student number control abolition in 2015 as key. Given DWP now in charge of skills and Milburn reviewing youth unemployment for DWP, this view seems significant for unis: www.ft.com/content/e199...

Orbán's defeat has big implications for universities and research, in Hungary and across the West. Here, five Hungarian and European scholars and experts weigh up the damage done to universities by his authoritarianism, and what needs to change. www.researchprofessionalnews.com/rr-news-euro...

There is "deep concern" from researchers over the European Research Council's restrictions on grant applications - particularly on the retroactive impact for previously unsuccessful applicants. @francesjones.bsky.social hears about the worries. www.researchprofessionalnews.com/rr-news-euro...

Breaking: Looming physics cuts a ‘failure’, says science committee chair. Chi Onwurah says science minister and UKRI leadership must “bear responsibility” and “win back trust”. www.researchprofessionalnews.com/rr-news-uk-p...

Something of a Friday 13th for the science department today - Chi Onwurah has lambasted Patrick Vallance over "wholly unacceptable" physics cuts - The NAO has reported a £5.6bn repair backlog to uni infrastructure - MPs have said regional growth is suffering from poor data on R&D spending 🧵 ...

Really stinging criticism by @chionwurah.bsky.social of Dsit, UKRI and STFC leadership over cuts to physics funding. The Commons science committee chair writes in a new letter to Patrick Vallance and UKRI's Ian Chapman:

University job cuts are leading to cuts in academics' research time, spotlighted here by @resprofnews.bsky.social. At the very same time the govt is looking for more economic return from the R&D budget, UK research capacity is being cut. Here's Kent as an example:

Tipping point reached in the university exodus from X? More universities "now off X than on it", finds @andytattersall.bsky.social analysis. www.researchprofessionalnews.com/rr-news-uk-u...

Birmingham v-c Adam Tickell made some really interesting comments at @britishacademy.bsky.social conference. Called university languages closures a "national catastrophe", said uni mergers may be needed to address it. Not many v-cs are willing to take public stand on national sector issues.

Significant from Patrick Vallance at Lords science committee: He is "determined that UKRI must find a way to look after" STFC's physics, astronomy and nuclear grants. "Tension" between STFC facilities and grants funding "needs to be resolved". www.researchprofessionalnews.com/rr-news-uk-r...

UUK chief exec Vivienne Stern asked, at British Academy event, if govt should review HE system: Risk of "opening up Pandora's Box". Don't review "if you don't know what's going to come out of it". Plan 2 loans pressure such there's "real danger Treasury will think only way out is another review".

Patrick Vallance speech at @britishacademy.bsky.social SHAPE conference: - pledging to "protect and grow" curiosity-driven research funding - creation of UKRI means "a big pot of money becomes visible"; benefits/outcomes need explaining - wanting UK to "be in early" on EU's next Horizon Europe

Nottingham move to cut academics' protected research time to 25%, as staff-student ratios rise, brings strong warning from the UCU branch - this "threatens Nottingham's status as a research-intensive institution".

Redundancies at research-intensive universities double in two years, FOI requests from @resprofnews.bsky.social @chrisjparr.bsky.social reveal. Scale of job losses branded "disaster" for UK research capacity. www.researchprofessionalnews.com/rr-news-uk-u...

With England's system of tuition fees and student loans under fierce criticism, @chrisjparr.bsky.social speaks to the creator of that system, David Willetts. Willetts points out Labour govt has not found an alternative model (though I don't think it has really tried to look for one).

Former UKRI leader Ottoline Leyser talks to @francesjones.bsky.social about the "horrible" funding problems facing Science and Technology Facilities Council. STFC funds major facilities and labs, along with grants for physics and astronomy. www.researchprofessionalnews.com/rr-news-uk-r...

It's been a busy couple of weeks covering the funding changes at UKRI, to put it mildly Here are my thoughts on how it's played out TL;DR...the message that curiosity-driven research is protected is not going to reassure those who are seeing their funding streams disrupted

🧵 New Research Fortnight out today! In this issue, we put the spotlight on the impact and implications of major changes to funding being introduced by UK Research and Innovation. www.researchprofessionalnews.com/rr-news-uk-p...

Warnings that UKRI funding changes are pushing some early career researchers to move abroad. STFC-funded research groups already "haemorrhaging", this researcher tells @resprofnews.bsky.social.

Breaking: Research Excellence Framework director to step down in April. Former director Kim Hackett returning to oversee strategy while successor to Rebecca Fairbairn is found. www.researchprofessionalnews.com/rr-news-uk-r...

Powerful opinion piece about impact of UKRI pulling UK funds from Electron-Ion Collider project - US-based international facility for research into structure of matter - by Daria Sokhan, principal investigator on EIC-UK.

Unusual to hear a Russell Group v-c talking in the terms Manchester's Duncan Ivison does in interview with @chrisjparr.bsky.social. He thinks scrapping the "massive, bureaucratic" REF should be on the table. www.researchprofessionalnews.com/rr-news-uk-u...

Fierce criticism of UKRI's decision to pull funding from upgrade of a detector on Cern's Large Hadron Collider. Tim Gershon, leader on the experiment, warns it will "collapse" the project and international partners could "end up just wasting their money".

UKRI's chief executive said recently that the UK "may wish to explore" paring back its association to the EU's research programme, to make it partial. That would be a "profound strategic error", critics now warn. By @clanicholson.bsky.social www.researchprofessionalnews.com/rr-news-euro...

STFC's science board was told of "long-term cut" to grants for physics and astronomy researchers, former member claims. STFC, which funds both major facilities and grants, plans cuts of £162m by 29-20, as @resprofnews.bsky.social has revealed. www.researchprofessionalnews.com/rr-news-uk-r...

More on the impact of UKRI pulling funding from a major experiment at Cern's Large Hadron Collider particle accelerator. Experiment's leader tells @francesjones.bsky.social upgrade of LHCb detector is "essential" to maximising upgrade of LHC itself.

Nature sums up 3 elements of UKRI funding changes: MRC/BBSRC grant pauses; STFC cuts; infrastructure deprioritised. Shame there's no credit for @resprofnews.bsky.social which first revealed all three! Stellar work by @francesjones.bsky.social @robinbisson.bsky.social @isaacbarbosa1.bsky.social

Is notion of a reproducibility crisis in science "exaggerated"? After ERC's Maria Leptin suggests just that, @fionamcintyre.bsky.social talks to those studying the issue. To judge whether there's a crisis, we would need to know "normal" level of reproducibility, says @martmichaelis.bsky.social

UK is pulling its funding for Cern's Large Hadron Collider upgrade, STFC leader Michele Dougherty confirms, after news first revealed by @francesjones.bsky.social @resprofnews.bsky.social "We simply don’t have the money to do everything." www.researchprofessionalnews.com/rr-news-uk-r...

Last week, RPN broke a string of stories on significant changes to funding across a number of research councils (see thread below) This morning, UKRI chief executive is appearing at the Commons science committee, where he is being asked about them by MPs Here are some key moments so far 🧵

The leaders of four major physics infrastructure projects due to receive over £280m from UKRI were told in December they have “not been prioritised” for funding The projects include an upgrade to the LHC at Cern and a new US particle accelerator ...

Another big story on changes to UK research funding - UK shelving £280m funding for physics infrastructure. Source tells @resprofnews.bsky.social if UK contribution to upgrade Cern's LHC is cut, project cannot go ahead By @francesjones.bsky.social www.researchprofessionalnews.com/rr-news-uk-r...

Awkward timing for Michele Dougherty's Desert Island Discs to be broadcast, given scientists' concerns over cuts set out by STFC, which she leads. She was asked about keeping Musk in Royal Society: "I think it was the right decision...He's done a lot for improving our ability to get into space."

UKRI shelves physics infrastructure projects worth £280m, @resprofnews.bsky.social reveals. Projects affected include a collaboration with Cern to upgrade the Large Hadron Collider. Another big story from @francesjones.bsky.social. www.researchprofessionalnews.com/rr-news-uk-r...

Further impacts from UKRI "period of transition" as it shifts more to "national priorities" after spending review. MRC tells grant boards to cut funding rates; BBSRC pauses applicant-led calls By @isaacbarbosa1.bsky.social @robinbisson.bsky.social 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...