Research funding: are we in danger of concentrating too hard?

A growing obsession with funding scale risks crowding out institutions and stifling innovation, suggests Zoë Molyneux.
This will be the year in which the higher education world turns its collective attention to one thing in particular: research. The Research Excellence Framework (REF) looms closer and work is beginning on party manifestos as the coalition moves into the latter half of its reign. As a result, the sector – as well as individual institutions – will be thinking hard about how best to protect their lot and to secure a well-funded research environment well into the next parliament. For institutions, this leads to questions on two different levels. First, how do we as a sector prevent a future claw-back from the research budget by the treasury in a climate where higher education is perceived to have 'done well' in recent funding announcements? Second, should the research budget avoid painful cuts, what is the most effective way to allocate funding which will support high-quality research activities? Read more...