RCUK Strategy

RCUK Strategy 2011-14 Steven Hill Research Councils UK Strategy Unit

RCUK Framework RCUK, working in partnership, cultivates the essential research and skills to provide the bedrock for the UK to have a productive economy, healthy society and contribute to a sustainable world.

Summary
The context: funding and performance of the UK research base
Funding and concentration
Performance
Strategic priorities for RCUK
Addressing societal challenges
Impact, innovation and growth
Efficient and effective research base

History of research funding Source: SET statistics (2011)

Types of research basic applied - specific development applied - strategic Source: Royal Society: ‘The Scientific Century’ (2010)

Spending Review 2010: headlines
Total Research Councils + HEFCE (QR and HEIF) resource budget fixed and ring-fenced for 2011-15 (approx 10% cut in real terms)
Real-terms protection for MRC resource budget
Implementation of Wakeham review of fEC  6-7% saving, reinvested within ring-fence
44% reduction in Research Council capital budget
Additional capital for Francis Crick Institute (£220M from Health budget)
Additional capital provided since Spending Review
Budget 2011 - £50M for campus investments (Daresbury, Babraham, Norwich)
Autumn 2011 - £50M for graphene research centre; £145M e-Infrastructure
15% reduction in administration budget

Allocations by Council – CSR 2010

Concentration of research funding
Our policy is to support excellent research as identified by peer review. This results in relatively high concentration of research funding.

Institutional concentration of funding

RCUK funding more concentrated than QR funding

Regional concentration of RCUK funding

Summary
Performance

UK research performance – the headlines
Best, or near best, in the world
Share of output falling despite absolute output increasing
Total investment in research low by international standards
Easily the most productive research base in the world

Overall citation performance Source: BIS/Elsevier (2011); Thompson-Reuters (2011)

Performance by subject area Source: BIS/Elsevier (2011); Thompson-Reuters (2011)

Reasons for UK success? ‘Brain circulation’ Source: BIS/Elsevier (2011)

Reasons for UK success? Well-rounded portfolio Source: BIS/Elsevier (2011)

Summary
Performance

Addressing societal challenges Productive economy
Digital economy
Global uncertainties
Healthy society
Lifelong health and wellbeing
Sustainable world
Living with environmental change
Energy
Global food security
Total spend 2011-15: £2 billion

Summary
Performance

Maximising impact: a new priority? Realising Our Potential 1993 Research Budget Allocations 2010

Types of research basic applied - specific development applied - strategic Source: Royal Society: ‘The Scientific Century’ (2010)

Overall citation performance Source: BIS/Elsevier (2011); Thompson-Reuters (2011)

UK innovation performance Source: EU (2010) ‘Innovation Union Scorecard 2010’

Business-HE collaboration Source: OECD (2011) ‘Science, Technology and Industry Scorecard’

Opening the research system
Open data
Open access to research publications
People flow between sectors
Technology and Innovation Centres
Public engagement with research
Fostering international collaboration

RCUK principles: data policy
Publicly funded research data are a public good, produced in the public interest, which should be made openly available with as few restrictions as possible in a timely and responsible manner that does not harm intellectual property.
Institutional and project specific data management policies and plans should be in accordance with relevant standards and community best practice . Data with acknowledged long-term value should be preserved and remain accessible and usable for future research.
To enable research data to be discoverable and effectively re-used by others, sufficient metadata should be recorded and made openly available to enable other researchers to understand the research and re-use potential of the data. Published results should always include information on how to access the supporting data.
RCUK recognises that there are legal, ethical and commercial constraints on release of research data. To ensure that the research process is not damaged by inappropriate release of data, research organisation policies and practices should ensure that these are considered at all stages in the research process.
To ensure that research teams get appropriate recognition for the effort involved in collecting and analysing data, those who undertake Research Council funded work may be entitled to a limited period of privileged use of the data they have collected to enable them to publish the results of their research. The length of this period varies by research discipline and, where appropriate, is discussed further in the published policies of individual Research Councils.
In order to recognise the intellectual contributions of researchers who generate, preserve and share key research datasets, all users of research data should acknowledge the sources of their data and abide by the terms and conditions under which they are accessed.
It is appropriate to use public funds to support the management and sharing of publicly-funded research data. To maximise the research benefit which can be gained from limited budgets, the mechanisms for these activities should be both efficient and cost-effective in the use of public funds.
http://www.rcuk.ac.uk/research/Pages/DataPolicy.aspx

Open data

Concordat for Public Engagement
UK research organisations have a strategic commitment to public engagement
Researchers are recognised and valued for their involvement with public engagement activities
Researchers are enabled to participate in public engagement activities through appropriate training, support and opportunities
The signatories and supporters will undertake regular reviews of their and the wider research sector's progress in fostering public engagement across the UK
http://www.rcuk.ac.uk/per/Pages/Concordat.aspx

Open data

Summary
Performance

Demand management Research Council data; Analysis from Times Higher Education

Demand management
Principles:
work in partnership with universities to support them in self-managing demand and delivering quality control of research proposals;
discuss plans for demand management with stakeholders;
develop and share tools for demand management across RCUK and universities, share good practice and strive for continual improvement;
maintain awareness of the effect of demand management on the wider community and stakeholders.

ESRC: consultation outcome

Example: EPSRC repeatedly unsuccessful applicants policy From Nature

Improving the efficiency of the research base
Continued commitment to funding research at 80% full economic cost
Implementation of Wakeham review
Changes to indirect costs element of fEC
Sharing of equipment and facilities
Reinvestment of savings within the ring-fence

Summary
Performance

http://hypotheses.wordpress.com	560
http://translate.googleusercontent.com	1
http://webcache.googleusercontent.com	1

RCUK Strategy

by steven_hill

Accessibility

Categories

Upload Details

Usage Rights

3 Embeds 562

Statistics

RCUK Strategy Webinar Transcript