Research Councils UK (RCUK) has announced doctoral stipend levels and indicative fees for 2018. The minimum stipend will increase in line with the GDP deflator and this remains the start-point for determining minimum stipend levels and this gives the national minimum doctoral stipend for 2018/19 as £14,777.

Many congratulations to the various academics, researchers, innovators and staff involved with the UK Research Councils and Innovate UK who have been honoured in the 2018 New Year Honours list. Experts funded by the research councils were recognised with various awards across the full range of the sciences and the humanities.

Cutting-edge research, with new insights drawn from across different disciplines offers real-world solutions to seemingly intractable conflict, according to a new report.

The Research Councils have reviewed the current grant terms and conditions and are making changes  to include legislative changes and additional information, these changes will start on Monday 15^th January 2018.

Six projects, backed by funding from across the UK’s research councils, have been announced as recipients of Queen’s Anniversary Prizes – In total, 21 UK universities and colleges of further education were recognised.

The Research Councils are actively engaging with the process of shaping FP9 and has published early reflections this week. The paper was developed with support by the UK Research Office, the European office of the UK Research Councils.

Two projects have been awarded the Newton Prize worth £200,000 each. Both projects were presented with the prestigious annual Prize by the Minister for Universities, Science and Research Jo Johnson, and Sir Venki Ramakrishnan, Chair of the Newton Prize Committee and President of the Royal Society.

Ten Research Council projects have been shortlisted for the 2017 Newton Prize, an annual £1 million fund awarded for the best research or innovation that promotes the economic development and social welfare of developing countries.

Research Councils UK is pleased to announce the launch of the Strategic Support to Expedite Embedding Public Engagement with Research (SEE-PER) grants. This funding invited two types of approach from institutions to help enrich and embed cultures within Higher Education Institutions.

Due to essential maintenance, the RCUK website and Gateway to Research (GtR) may be unavailable on Sunday 8 October from 22:00-00:00 (GMT).

This maintenance will also affect other Research Council services, including the Peer Review extranet and recruitment application system which may be become unavailable during this period.

A new UK centre of excellence in computational science, which will support a wide range of scientific research topics including the biological and medical sciences as well as the physical sciences and engineering, is being launched today.

A new film, launched today, highlights the type of vital work that the Fund will help to support and details how the ISCF will work and the reasoning behind the programme.

The UK’s seven research councils have announced they will be working together to encourage and strengthen mental health research. Mental health is recognised as a major societal challenge that requires novel cross-disciplinary research approaches, that is, research that spans more than one branch of specialist knowledge.

Detailed analysis of potential new ISCF challenges in targeted round of deep dive workshops. Following the announcement of the first challenges that will be supported by the Industrial Strategy Challenge Fund.

The science minister Jo Johnson MP has reiterated the government’s commitment to underwrite the funding for all successful bids made by UK participants for Horizon 2020 projects that are submitted before EU exit – a move welcomed by Research Councils UK.

The Research Councils have been reviewing funding assurance arrangements to ensure they continue to meet best practice in the stewardship of public funds. The current updated Grant Terms and Conditions are now published and will be implemented on 1 August.

Leading experts from the UK and in developing countries across the world are joining forces to tackle some of the most serious global challenges in a new multi-disciplinary research programme launched today. In one of the most ambitious international research programmes ever created, £225 Million has been invested across 37 interdisciplinary projects.

An interim website has been launched today by UK Research and Innovation, www.ukri.org. The site will be a source of news and information about the development of UK Research and Innovation ahead of its formal creation in April 2018.