Category Archives: Science policy

UK investment in R&D plunges in blow to ‘science superpower’ plan

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IPPR says extra £62bn a year needed to match global leader Israel after sharp decline since 2014

Britain’s plan to become a post-Brexit “science and technology superpower” has suffered a significant setback after a fall in research and development investment of almost a fifth since 2014, according to a report.

The Institute for Public Policy Research said the UK’s share of global investment in R&D projects – including in health and life sciences – had fallen sharply from 4.2% eight years ago to 3.4% in 2019 immediately before the Covid pandemic struck.

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‘Science superpower’ plan risks making UK bureaucracy superpower, says peer

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Author of Lords report says government’s approach ‘feels like setting off on a marathon with your shoelaces tied together’

Britain’s plan to become a “science and technology superpower” is so lacking in focus and so full of new organisational structures that the country risks becoming a “bureaucracy superpower” instead, an influential crossbench peer has said.

Prof John Krebs, the co-author of a Lords report on the government’s global ambitions for science and technology, said despite laudable rhetoric, there was no clear strategy as to how the “superpower” ambition might be realised, and reasons to doubt it would succeed.

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UK universities brace for impact of sanctions against Russia

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Most academics back research boycott but ‘there is a case for maintaining ties’, says Oxford professor

Researchers at UK universities are bracing themselves for sanctions affecting science partnerships with Russia, including in climate science and space research, as the government seeks to isolate Vladimir Putin over the invasion of Ukraine.

Simon Marginson, a professor of higher education at the University of Oxford, said most academics would support a research boycott with heavy hearts and concerns for Russian colleagues.

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UK scientists fear brain drain as Brexit rows put research at risk

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Projects in jeopardy as EU revokes millions in grant offers after failure of trade talks

British science is facing the threat of a highly damaging brain drain that could see scores of top young researchers leaving the UK. In addition, the futures of several major British-led international projects are also now in jeopardy following a delay in funding by the European Union.

Senior scientists say the UK’s scientific standing is at serious risk while others have warned that major programmes – including medical projects aimed at tackling global scourges such as malaria – face cancellation.

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Critical measures of global heating reaching tipping point, study finds

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Carbon emissions, ocean acidification, Amazon clearing all hurtling toward new records

A new study tracking the planet’s vital signs has found that many of the key indicators of the global climate crisis are getting worse and either approaching, or exceeding, key tipping points as the earth heats up.

Overall, the study found some 16 out of 31 tracked planetary vital signs, including greenhouse gas concentrations, ocean heat content and ice mass, set worrying new records.

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Sir Patrick Vallance handed tech role to build on vaccine success

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Chief scientific adviser will head new government body looking at big bets in science and technology

The government’s chief scientific adviser, Sir Patrick Vallance, has been asked by Boris Johnson to investigate whether the UK’s successful vaccine procurement programme can be replicated in other areas of technology.

Vallance, who has become a household name following his appearances at coronavirus press conferences, will take on the new title of national technology adviser, serving alongside his current roles.

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UK steps in with 11th-hour extra £250m to stay in EU research scheme

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Government commitment to Horizon Europe fund averts immediate threat to science, say universities

The government has stepped in at the 11th hour with an additional £250m in funding to help pay for the UK’s association with Horizon Europe, the European Union’s funding programme for research and innovation.

Universities welcomed the move as “a significant affirmation of the government’s belief in research” which would avert the immediate threat to UK science.

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Top scientists warn of ‘ghastly future of mass extinction’ and climate disruption

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Sobering new report says world is failing to grasp the extent of threats posed by biodiversity loss and the climate crisis

The planet is facing a “ghastly future of mass extinction, declining health and climate-disruption upheavals” that threaten human survival because of ignorance and inaction, according to an international group of scientists, who warn people still haven’t grasped the urgency of the biodiversity and climate crises.

The 17 experts, including Prof Paul Ehrlich from Stanford University, author of The Population Bomb, and scientists from Mexico, Australia and the US, say the planet is in a much worse state than most people – even scientists – understood.

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Brexit: £3bn standoff over UK-EU scientific collaboration

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Sector calls for compromise to ensure UK researchers stay in Horizon Europe

The UK’s post-Brexit collaboration with European scientists hangs in the balance after it emerged that the EU offer of staying in the Horizon research programme could leave London with a £3bn deficit.

“The financial negotiations are not in a good position and the offer that the [European] commission has made to the UK is not appealing,” Vivienne Stern, the director of Universities UK International, told a Lords Brexit committee on Thursday.

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We are fighting a 21st-century disease with 20th-century weapons

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Better and faster joined-up data systems are key to coping with and preventing pandemics such as Covid-19 – as well as more everyday diseases

Covid-19 has exposed the deficiencies of national disease detection and prevention systems in many countries of Europe, and in the United States. In the UK, contact tracing was abandoned early due to lack of capacity. Just three weeks ago the government was prepared to let thousands of Scots travel through England to Wales and back for a rugby match, and it has taken a month to develop a strategy for scaled-up testing. After a decade of austerity and decentralisation, we are trying to recover the lost muscle memory of the public health response.

It will not be 100 years until the next pandemic. Population growth, human invasion of animal habitats and the resumption of fast travel between continents will take care of that. More urgently, we need a system in place after the lockdown to prevent a second wave of the Covid-19 pandemic being worse than the first.

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