New video just dropped from Ian Chapman @ukri.org youtu.be/Z1OcZl224qo

This year I found out that the International Women's Day .com website which says things like "IWD Event Managers are encouraged to invite nonprofit speakers and guests, exhibit nonprofit displays, distribute nonprofit resources, and establish ongoing giving." Is run by a for-profit private org

Patrick Vallance at the Science and Technology Committee yesterday used the terms "general research" and "specific research" for buckets 1 and 2/3. I wonder if the term "general research" is much better for bucket 1 to make sense of why QR is there? Thoughts? parliamentlive.tv/event/index/...

A new video from UKRI on the budget. Kudos to Ian for addressing the community. More terminology to sit alongside the buckets 💐: Legs 🦵 Jam jars 🫙 And a reprise of "applicant led" I am more confused and I still have questions🧵 youtu.be/osnqHbOywVY

It occurs to me that anyone under the age of 40 or not living in the UK in the early 90s won't understand why each time I mention UKRI buckets I add bouquets 💐💐💐💐

On UKRI terminology The terms “curiosity‑driven” and “investigator‑led” need clearer definition. They could equally apply to work in Bucket 2; the distinction is simply that the scope could be set by an IS8 theme, for example, rather than by a research council remit.

UKRI shares first detailed comparisons of past and future spending under new ‘bucket’ model💐💐💐 Bucket 4 looks intentionally leaky This is the follow up from the committee hearing. The committee's challenge to change the bucket terminology hasn't been met. committees.parliament.uk/committee/13...

Can anyone think of an example of government spend of this magnitude and speed (excluding covid)?? 4 weeks from call announcement to submission (no advance warning) and within that only 2 weeks to flag your intention to submit. £40M total - individual awards £9.4M www.ukri.org/opportunity/...

🧵 UKRI has changed their budgets from considering by disciplines (as bounded by Research Council remits) to by buckets. The inability to see the magnitude of change to disciplinary funding over the spending review period is creating uncertainty.

FFS Hardle 24/02/2026 | 6/10 ⬛🟩🟩🟩🟩 0️⃣4️⃣ ⬛🟩🟩🟩🟩 0️⃣4️⃣ ⬛🟩🟩🟩🟩 0️⃣4️⃣ ⬛🟩🟩🟩🟩 0️⃣4️⃣ ⬛🟩🟩🟩🟩 0️⃣4️⃣ 🟩🟩🟩🟩🟩 0️⃣5️⃣ Play #hardle on hardle.org

Parkrun update: home course. Ready to blow some cobwebs away. Thank you to all the volunteers across the world that make just turning up with a bunch of strangers and running or gently ambling 5km in community a possibility. 10/10 would recommend. Try it next week.

#IWD2026 🧵 The #GiveToGain '.com' site is run by a private limited company with no apparent links to the UNWomen's campaign or feminist movement They unilaterally decide a theme. It's different to the UNWomen's campaign They seem to profit from the merch they sell www.kcl.ac.uk/internationa...

More info on how the CAMERA team at @uniofbath.bsky.social support #TeamGB #skeleton #Gold www.cnn.com/2025/11/18/w...

Expecting much excitement over coming weeks about the Olympic gold on @uniofbath.bsky.social socials. Yes we do have the UK’s only bobsleigh and skeleton push-start track on campus and yes Matt Weston trains @TeamBath 🎉 www.teambath.com/sport/olympi...

Small aside (giggles in nerd) 1) This means that the buckets are leaky. 2) I described the new set up to colleagues who don't work with funders, and was asked in all seriousness, "what does 'book-it' mean? Or is this a northern bucket?" 3) Maybe we can rename as the UKRI bouquets?

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

Very sad to see Rebecca Fairbairn leaving the REF Director role. She's navigated with aplomb through some very tricky times 2029.ref.ac.uk/news/stateme...

I'm back to thinking about the @ukri.org Buckets. A small thread 🧵

Distributed peer review being trialled again. Look out for bias: exclusion of groups that don't typically apply. Considered in the Review of Peer Review (one of the last activities I did at UKRI). Named 'peer allocation', find more about the evidence behind it here: www.ukri.org/publications...

Myth busting: QR long predates the idea of 80% FEC. It was designed to sustain uni's as a national research capability, not to mop up funding shortfalls. I’d like to think that's why QR is in UKRI's bucket 1, but I suspect it’s mainly to make the bucket bigger en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Univers...

Myth busting: QR long predates the idea of 80% FEC. It was designed to sustain uni's as a national research capability, not to mop up funding shortfalls. I’d like to think that's why QR is in UKRI's bucket 1, but I suspect it’s mainly to make the bucket bigger en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Univers...

First footage coming through of the new Rubik's Cube World Record of 2.76 seconds. They'll be higher quality footage from Teodor's on desk camera soon but just look how happy Teodor is! As a Cubing parent this properly warms my cockles. #SpeedCubing #HappySunday www.instagram.com/reel/DUf06UD...

Niche post but the Rubik's Cube world record has just been broken and it's the first ever sub three second world record. And the person who has broken it is the loveliest Polish kid . It's the loveliest news plus a blooming incredible solve. Video not yet available as it just happened #SpeedCubing

I got lost down a dual-support, FEC, QR rabbit hole and came across this letter from the government to HEIs from 2005. Accessed by the amazing Wayback Machine internet archive web.archive.org/web/20060623...

Parkrun update: ouch But #ThankyouMarshalls and the whole team of volunteers.

Bless me, Parkrun community, for I have sinned. It has been 5 weeks since my last Parkrun..... Despite the rain lots of newcomers and visitors listening to the welcome talk this morning. I expect this to be a slow one and for my feet to be soaking at the end. But I'm here!!! 😃

Again, annoyingly, UKRI staff mentioning 3 areas (buckets) rather than 4. Why do I keep mentioning this? Because in my view bucket 4 which includes talent (PhD funding etc.), infrastructure and institutes should not be an after thought as they create a distinct critical capability for the UK.

There is something quite impressive about how quickly the physics community can mobilise the media www.bbc.co.uk/news/article...

Some thoughts on the select committee appearance by the boss of UKRI, Ian Chapman yesterday. It’s a long watch but can be seen here: parliamentlive.tv/Event/Index/... Thread 🧵

Some thoughts on the select committee appearance by the boss of UKRI, Ian Chapman yesterday. It’s a long watch but can be seen here: parliamentlive.tv/Event/Index/... Thread 🧵

I've not yet listened to Ian Chapman's committee "grilling" but from the number of messages people have sent me I'm guessing it's worth the watch.

Some initial reactions to the 'published on a Sunday afternoon' letter from the CEO of UKRI. 🧵 www.ukri.org/news/open-le...

Remember this? 'Research England is considering whether it should match quality-related research funding for universities to the “current objectives of government”, its executive chair has said.' www.researchprofessionalnews.com/rr-news-uk-r...

Some initial reactions to the 'published on a Sunday afternoon' letter from the CEO of UKRI. 🧵 www.ukri.org/news/open-le...

Hot off the press - a letter from the Exec Chair of @ukri.org explaining his plans and in particular the financial position of STFC. It notes curiosity driven research is protected and will make up around half of UKRI spend over the coming period www.ukri.org/news/open-le...

Desert Island Discs today was the boss of the Science and Technology Facilities Council. The STFC is a multimillion pound science organisation with 3000 staff. It wasn't mentioned once. A weird omission. www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/m...

My teen was live on the beeb this morning. Super proud of the full interview. He was awesome. The speed cubing community now gently ribbing him for the quality of this solve though 😂 no where near his national record of 3.69 seconds which can be seen here youtu.be/LEOZYJK5J2c

Last century, when grants ended a hardcopy final report was put on the desk of a Science Programmes Officer for review. With electronic applications (mantra to Je-S to TFS) came an in-house repository for the info. It then moved to RF. Finding a replacement in 18 months will be challenging for UKRI

OOOOH Researchfish Is going extinct 🐡🐟🐠 help.researchfish.com/en_US/resear...

Excitingly my teenager is going to be live on the BBC Breakfast sofa at around 8.50 tomorrow morning!

Amongst other things, this is deeply disingenuous wording. The letter states (as positive framing?) that "curiosity-driven research will be the largest component of UKRI's portfolio over the SR period" Yet the majority of that bucket (61%) is QR funding. This is really conflating two very 1/2

Amongst other things, this is deeply disingenuous wording. The letter states (as positive framing?) that "curiosity-driven research will be the largest component of UKRI's portfolio over the SR period" Yet the majority of that bucket (61%) is QR funding. This is really conflating two very 1/2

I know contracts officers are like gold dust but please share to help us find them University of Bath Senior Contracts Officer (Legal) Salary starting from £47,389, rising to £56,535 Closing date Sunday 8th Feb a ‘largely remote’ contract will be considered www.bath.ac.uk/jobs/Vacancy...

Have you been asked to be involved in a #GiveToGain #IWD20260 event? You may wish to know the below. TL:DR the #GiveToGain campaign is run by a private limited company with no apparent links to the UNWomen's campaign or feminist movement. Profiting from merchandise www.kcl.ac.uk/internationa...

Raised at work, they're ditching the Give to Gain campaign, using the UNWomen's theme instead 💪 Outrageous a corporate with no apparent link to the UN International Women's Day is unilaterally deciding a theme, promoting it, creating resources for people to buy and as far as I can see cashing in.

Why is there a corporate '.com' site on #IWD2026 that is unconnected to the UNWomen's campaign? Out of curiosity I looked and they are charging £185 for an event pack.

I posted about #IWD2026 Bluesky peeps taught me the corporate '.com' site is bull****, unconnected to the UN or feminist movement, they unilaterally decide a theme (different to the UNWomen's campaign) www.unwomen.org/en/news-stor... www.kcl.ac.uk/internationa... Avoid the Give to Gain campaign

Ah... International Women's Day stuff isn't all that it seems *sigh*

International Women's Day 'Give to Gain' campaign. A couple of questions. 1) You're asking women to give more? Aren't the societal expectations/pressures on women around giving sufficient? 2) Strapline "What will you Give to Gain gender equality?". Really? 3) campaigns with hand-gestures only?