The UK Research Councils have for the first time published simultaneously their plans and priorities for the next three years.
Plans range from support for cutting-edge research at the very edge of traditional subject boundaries to a commitment to secure the sustainability of the UK's research base for future generations.
The eight Research Councils are the largest investors in fundamental research in the UK. Successive increases in the Science Budget mean that the Research Councils will be administering more than £3 billion of public money on research each year by the end of the SR2004 period (2007/08).
The delivery plans set out how each Research Council will invest the Science Budget they receive from the Office of Science & Technology (OST) in research, training, public engagement activities and innovation. The Councils have also produced an overarching delivery plan under the umbrella of Research Councils UK (RCUK).
RCUK spokesman Professor Ian Diamond argues that increased investment of public money in research demands even greater efforts to ensure its optimum use:
"Government policy clearly sets innovation at the heart of productivity and social gain and sees a direct link between innovation and a healthy research base. The Councils have always reported on how they are spending their part of the Science Budget. What we're doing now is ensuring synergy between plans, publishing them simultaneously and working together on the RCUK plan which captures key themes," he said.
Secretary of State for Trade and Industry, Alan Johnson said, "I welcome the Research Councils' commitment to work together on an increasingly interdisciplinary basis. These delivery plans are key to ensuring the UK continues to enjoy its world-leading science research base through increasing accountability and understanding of the invaluable role research plays. The government is committed to ensuring the UK remains a leader in innovation and productivity not just over the next three years, but for future generations as well."
Multidisciplinary priorities supported through cross-Council collaboration include, for example, expansion of the Energy programme to more than £150 million and new programmes in 21st Century Design (£5 million) and Systems Biology (£36 million). The Councils have already invested £900 million in multidisciplinary programmes since 2001 and believe that harnessing knowledge and skills across a wide range of disciplines is the only way to meet some of the grand research challenges of the next decade.
A focus on the long term sustainability of the research base is a theme that runs across individual Council plans addressing areas such as the health of particular subject disciplines; ensuring UK researchers have access to world-class facilities and equipment and the introduction of Councils paying 80 per cent of the full economic cost of research for all research applications submitted after 1 September 2005. Two new RCUK units covering Careers & Diversity and Science in Society will ensure coordination across the Councils in the key areas of public engagement and the flow of people into research careers.
Professor Diamond believes the basis for a successful and productive UK research base is flexibility and a healthy-balance between bottom-up responsive research and top-down strategic thinking:
"Our delivery plans clearly set out how we're using public money to deliver world-class research. Our core business is responsive mode funding to support the adventurous, blue skies research happening in universities and in our institutes. Publicly-funded research has underpinned so many of the great discoveries of the 20th century. And it's even more important today as we see businesses and markets becoming ever-more cautious about investing in research which has no immediate return on investment, but which may yet enrich our society and economy in so many unpredictable ways," he concluded.
All the Councils' delivery plans were written in the context of OST's strategy for the science base, which draws on the Government's Science and Innovation Investment Framework 2004-2014. Their plans are also based on the Research Councils' own visions and strategic priorities. The plans form part of a comprehensive Performance Management Framework which aims to ensure long- term planning for science investment is built on a firm, evidence-based foundation. The Framework includes a series of performance metrics (the "Outputs Framework") and a set of targets and milestones (the "Scorecard"). The first data under the Outputs Framework will be published at the end of the 2005/06 financial year. Progress against each Research Council's Scorecard will be published quarterly.
Council delivery plans are available on their respective websites, the RCUK delivery plan can be found here. OST has also produced its Allocations booklet which covers all of the recipients of the Science Budget from 2005/06 to 2007/08.
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Notes for editors
Research Councils UK (RCUK) is the partnership between the UK's eight Research Councils. The Research Councils run several cross-council multidisciplinary research programmes and are the main public investors in fundamental research in the UK. Through RCUK, the Research Councils are working together to create a common framework for research, training and knowledge transfer.
The partnership is led by the RCUK Executive Group, which meets monthly and comprises the chief executives of the eight Research Councils. The Group is currently chaired by Professor Ian Diamond, chief executive of the Economic and Social Research Council.
The eight UK Research Councils are:
- Arts & Humanities Research Council (AHRC);
- Biotechnology & Biological Sciences Research Council (BBSRC);
- Council for the Central Laboratory of the Research Councils (CCLRC);
- Economic & Social Research Council (ESRC);
- Engineering & Physical Sciences Research Council (EPSRC);
- Medical Research Council (MRC);
- Natural Environment Research Council (NERC);
- Particle Physics & Astronomy Research Council (PPARC).