Million Plus

Pam Tatlow, Chief Executive of MillionPlus, the Associtation for Modern Universities, has written an article for Research Fortnight, 'Threats to core funding could overshadow REF reform.'

"The [higher education] bill has the potential to change how research is assessed, funded and managed across the UK," she writes. "The case for UK Research and Innovation (UKRI) emerged from Paul Nurse’s review of the research councils, which implied that it was not enough for the seven research councils to work collaboratively as Research Councils UK. The Higher Education Council for England’s roles in running the Research Excellence Framework (REF) and administering quality-related funding were added to the mix under the banner of Research England. The innovation funder Innovate UK was thrown in too.

"UKRI’s stated aim is to increase efficiency through a more coherent management structure. In reality, it may simply downgrade its constituent organisations. The councils’ royal charters will be undermined and they will become UKRI committees; their chief executives will probably have a lower profile and less access to ministers."

Read the full article here.