Rob Fagan

She's been lead restricted for 3 weeks after spay - that wasn't fun. A lot happier now that she's a forest dog again. I think she is starting to settle a bit. We definitely had a bad few weeks around the 9 month point!

Yellow Labrador Pip asleep with her head on my shoulder. Just visible is the grey wet robe she's wearing

Our puppy turned 1 today. I think I managed to tire her out on a muddy walk!

MRC funding update An update on MRC funding during UKRI’s transition, what’s changing, and the next steps for paused opportunities and reopening timelines.

They've separately said:
Our transition to new ways of working also means we unfortunately expect to make a reduced number of awards to applications currently being assessed by our four research boards and developmental pathway funding scheme.
www.ukri.org/blog/mrc-fun...

So despite Chapman acknowledging poor comms, they're still trying to spin this. "slightly lower" just isn't accurate, not even close. Discussing only 20% of submitted grants and funding at most 20% of these is not a *slightly* lower funding rate

Sir Ian McKellen performing a monologue from Shakespeare’s Sir Thomas More on the Stephen Colbert show. Never have I heard this monologue performed with such a keen sense of prescience. Nor have I ever been in this exact historical moment.TY Sir Ian, for reaching us once again.
#Pinks #ProudBlue

Colleagues of mine @naomilpollock.bsky.social and @alice-rothnie.bsky.social are at a BBSRC event today and have been told that the RM call is paused, until maybe March, to allow them to transition to a open call rather than 3 deadlines a year. Nice that this is widely communicated 😉

A master class on how not to do comms.... Thanks for the info Alan!

That's much more positive than the news from MRC - first good news I've heard in the last week

Have you seen anything to suggest when assessments will restart? That's what's missing from the absolutely appalling communication from UKRI. Even a few months delay is going to leave a huge number of postdocs and finishing PhDs high and dry

Absolutely spot on Ali - I think your quotes are excellent

These are the life-blood of science. All that lab knowledge lost, careers ended. All the investment in their training to this point lost to academic research. That's the human cost of UKRI's "review period to develop implementation"

I know what they're getting at with the "could put jobs at risk" but can we focus on the immediate impact? Each suspended round at MRC and BBSRC means about 80 fewer postdoc jobs and the retrospective cuts at MRC add another 30 or so

Leaks everywhere and finally we get an official statement, one that somehow manages to say a lot while; No timelines. No clarity. No acknowledgement of impact on ECRs whose careers depend UKRI funding.

“Later this year” isn’t a plan. And the sector deserves better than reassurance without detail.

They nearly got lynched over the peptoclostridium nonsense

The retrospective cuts I'm referring to are to the sept 2025 MRC round. Absolute maximum 5% success rate means a huge waste of time for the vast majority of us who applied and everyone that reviewed and scored them. From what I've heard there will be no saved money to be rolled forward - it's gone

Finally comms from UKRI - on a Sunday evening. No mention of the hundreds of ECRs who will see their careers ended by these decisions and notably no explanation for MRC retrospectively applying cuts and wasting all the work that went into writing, reviewing and scoring applications - £millions

Dynamic DnaA–DnaB interactions at oriC coordinate the loading and coupled translocation of two DnaB helicases for bidirectional replication Abstract. Bidirectional replication is a conserved principle requiring coordinated translocation of the two replicative helicases loaded at the origin. In

Dynamic DnaA–DnaB interactions at oriC coordinate the loading and coupled translocation of two DnaB helicases for bidirectional replication url: academic.oup.com/nar/article/...

I can probably mention machine learning at least once per paragraph.....

and I just got an email from Researchfish (not even a real fish)!

I refer you to the reply given in Arkell V Pressdram....

but retrospectively applying cuts is absolutely disgusting behaviour from the MRC. Hundreds of us have spent months preparing, reviewing and scoring grants only for all of that work to be chucked in the bin. A whole cohort of postdocs will need to leave academic research - incredibly sad

MRC instructs grant review boards to slash funding rates - Research Professional News Boards asked to recommend just three applications for funding, as BBSRC also suspends calls

Appalling news for the biosciences in the UK. I have three grants under review at the moment so the last week since I heard these rumours have been a definite career low point. Shifting priorities (read political interference) are bad enough
www.researchprofessionalnews.com/rr-news-uk-r...

Have had some very worrying info from insiders in the last couple of days suggesting that things are about to get a lot worse

I'm seeing relatively little chatter or outcry about what is happening at the MRC, the UK's biomedical research funder.

Before Christmas MRC paused the acceptance of many of its grants, including the standard applicant-led research grant. There has been no public information on what is happening 🧵

What you're hearing lines up completely with my sources too Ian - although I heard they'd be announcing the restart in the Spring, which is subtly different! As someone with a grant currently under consideration I'm absolutely furious at my wasted time - not to mention that of the reviewers/panel

Mr4 sitting beside me on the couch. He's watching a video on his tablet and Labrador puppy Pip is asleep beside him

Been working flat out since Christmas so decided to take today off. Afternoon plans out the window after a call from Mr4's school. Never work with children or animals 🤣

Pip wearing a very fetching grey bathrobe, asleep in my lap

And this is how it ends - 30kg lapdog. We'll both sleep well tonight

Would the MRC no deadline approach be better? The EPSRC experience was that there were a lot fewer submission. Who says we're deadline driven 🤣

Thanks Mel! I really want that project with Leeds to happen too - probably the best project we've put together in a long time

A quick mental health break before the final grant submission push. Never too cold for a dip if you're a Labrador!

@joepompliano on Threads posted a pic of a map dotted with dozens of yacht names and said: “Pretty much every billionaire that owns a superyacht is in St. Barth right now for New Year's Eve - Jeff Bezos, Miriam Adelson, Shahid Khan, Sergey Brin, Jerry Jones, and 100+ others”

orcas have the chance to do the funniest thing