Robin Bisson

Research culture element of REF 2029 set to be shrunk - Research Professional News New ‘4-star plus’ research rating also being considered by Research Excellence Framework team, briefings suggest

Uni leaders being briefed that the people, culture and environment part of @ref2029.bsky.social will shrink from 25 to 20% of overall scores

Cue eye-rolling and teeth gnashing

Big question is: why?

Until now, Research England have been robust about how central research culture is to excellence

Back at my desk after some holiday - feel like I missed something while I was away..

Got a press release saying "we would be very grateful if you would consider publishing this press release free of charge"

Is that how it works now?

Global health research projects halted by latest UK aid cuts - Research Professional News Exclusive: Applications for HIV research among those impacted by suspension of NIHR schemes

The govt recently made fresh cuts to ODA funding - already calls for global health research projects have been paused as a result.

Projects impacted include study on managing HIV in mothers and babies in South Africa.

By @robinbisson.bsky.social
www.researchprofessionalnews.com/rr-news-uk-p...

Cabinet Office rows back after outcry against gagging scientists - Research Professional News Clarification after fears of “chilling effect” from guidance stopping government-employed researchers speaking at events

Cabinet Office partially revises guidance that prevented public sector officials from speaking at events with media present - after an outcry about the silencing of government-employed scientists.

An exclusive by @robinbisson.bsky.social
www.researchprofessionalnews.com/rr-news-uk-p...

Cabinet Office rows back after outcry against gagging scientists - Research Professional News Clarification after fears of “chilling effect” from guidance stopping government-employed researchers speaking at events

Cabinet Office rows back after outcry against gagging scientists.

The Cabinet Office has partially revised recent guidance stopping government scientists and staff at research agencies from speaking at events after an outcry from the sector.

www.researchprofessionalnews.com/rr-news-uk-p...

I take your point - getting enough nuance in a headline is sometimes (indeed often) impossible, given restrictions on space

Open access economic model branded ‘fundamentally broken’ - Research Professional News Lead negotiator on UK university publishing deals says agreements “neither sustainable nor fit for purpose”

Quite a blunt statement on where things stand on open access agreements with big publishers from Liam Earney, the guy leading negotiations from @jisc.bsky.social

“At the highest level, for the majority of universities that we work on behalf of, the economic model is viewed as fundamentally broken”

Very clear move from Wes Streeting to make the UK's clinical research funder more industry focused

The NIHR will be required to “work to a dual health and growth mandate, driving focus on activity which is growth-maximising alongside improving health outcomes"

KPIs to be agreed with industry

UKRI's annual report shows a big jump in exit packages last year

In 2023-24, there were 38 departures, with exit packages worth £830,000

In 2024-25, there were 141 departures, with exit packages worth nearly £6.6 million

Of the 141 departures, 77 left through a voluntary exit scheme

Full breaking story: Commission proposes to double Horizon budget for 2028-34

www.researchprofessionalnews.com/rr-news-euro...

The steady recovery in student visa numbers since the massive crash last year was checked in June

Just before the highest volume months for visas (July to Sept)

And just after the govt said it planned more curbs on international student numbers

www.researchprofessionalnews.com/rr-news-uk-u...

Also some top class snark from Patrick Vallance in the same debate...

"I thank the noble Lord for his question. I know that he is prone to shaking his head when Ministers answer. I fear that I may give him a neck injury during this answer."

Sometimes you have to love the Lords. Hansard can be like reading Dickens or some Victorian children's book

Focus on national security ‘will bring chilling effect’ to UK research - Research Professional News UKRI-funded report finds “sensitive economic areas” leak most knowledge, but crackdown could affect open science

As the UK pivots to defence,
a shift towards research security and away from open collaboration is “inevitable”, says Nicola Searle, whose report found security lapses in “sensitive economic areas”

“Everyone’s going to have to work on it more because of regulations” she told @annamckie.bsky.social

Institutions are also less willing to take on staff

"any funding schemes where there is an expectation of match-funding or an expectation of a permanent post being made available is a problem," said one respondent

Full results from @armauk.bsky.social

4/4

More than half said they were restricting bids for charity funding

In 2023-24, cost recovery rate on charity research grants was just 55% (compared to 67% overall)

One in three were restricting applications for fellowships - bad news for early-career researchers

3/4

"We’ve done two surveys—not that far apart—but there’s already quite a substantial change," Bryony Butland of @qmul.bsky.social told @sophieatrpn.bsky.social

It's largely to do with covering full economic costs

"If you can’t pay for it, you can’t do it," Butland said

2/4

Universities cutting research funding bids, survey finds - Research Professional News “If you can’t pay for it, you can’t do it,” warns Arma financial sustainability expert

Stark stats from survey of UK research institutions:

- 48% choosing not to bid for some funding/join collaborations
- 44% reducing internal funding schemes
- 41% restricting applications for certain funders/grants

And these numbers have gone up quickly

1/4

This is wildly outside normality...

(also free to read)

Databases ‘compromised’ by US cuts, warns ERC president - Research Professional News Metascience 2025: Maria Leptin says funding bodies must “do more” to protect research data

Databases ‘compromised’ by US cuts, warns ERC president.

Maria Leptin says funding bodies must “do more” to protect research data. #Metascience2025

www.researchprofessionalnews.com/rr-news-euro...

‘Admit research waste to build trust,’ urges iconoclastic professor - Research Professional News Metascience 2025: John Ioannidis warns of rising levels of fraud and unusable results

John Ioannidis - one of science's mavericks (however you want to interpret that) - split opinion with his talk at #Metascience2025 where references were only available on request

@chrisjparr.bsky.social talked to him afterwards about why science needs to be open about research waste

Importance of foreign student fees is ‘overstated’, says think tank - Research Professional News Policy Exchange also calls for graduate visa route to be scrapped

Curious argument from Policy Exchange that unis overstate importance of international student fees

Their analysis finds top unis make an average surplus of £10,400 per international student, while for lower-ranked institutions the figure is £2,900

Meanwhile unis make a loss on domestic students

I imagine it's not such a handsome amount

It seems so: www.linkedin.com/posts/mattcl...

Race is on for the next Aria CEO

Gur's salary is upwards of £450k - that's not far off twice the amount for the top job at UKRI

Meanwhile, the PM's salary is £172k

I was too, but seems Gur was only ever expecting to stay a couple of years

Thrilled to have my story picked up by
@thetimes.com

Trump administration axes UK university research projects

The original is free to read here, researchprofessionalnews.com/rr-news-uk-u...

My Research Fortnight leader (politely) takes issue with Augar.

Policy failings on fee cap and international students are what drove university finances crisis. Current govt risks inadequate/harmful action.

All seeping through to impact research.

www.researchprofessionalnews.com/rr-news-uk-v...

Nine direct stop notices from the US govt have halted projects at Durham, Leeds, Liverpool, Nottingham and Southampton

A further 14 projects at Cambridge and QMUL were halted by US collaborators.

One researcher told @francesjones.bsky.social they “felt like their funding had been used as a pawn”

Quite a statement from the author of the last govt review on post-18 education

“The sector is going through emergency redundancy programme[s] that proper planning could have avoided...the governance errors in the [2010s] have led to the problems in the 20s”

Interview by @fionamcintyre.bsky.social