I wonder if these kinds of moves to cut protected research time are going on at other research-intensive institutions?
@robinbisson.bsky.social's full story on the Nottingham move, and the UCU's warning about the consequences, here:
www.researchprofessionalnews.com/rr-news-uk-u...
Nottingham move to cut academics' protected research time to 25%, as staff-student ratios rise, brings strong warning from the UCU branch - this "threatens Nottingham's status as a research-intensive institution".
26.02.2026 11:27 — 👍 17 🔁 12 💬 4 📌 2
Redundancies at research-intensive universities double in two years, FOI requests from @resprofnews.bsky.social @chrisjparr.bsky.social reveal.
Scale of job losses branded "disaster" for UK research capacity.
www.researchprofessionalnews.com/rr-news-uk-u...
Willetts still pushing a quinquennial review of tuition fee levels, student loan terms, as solution to system pressures.
Would allow system to respond to universities' changing costs, job market conditions, he argues.
Story here www.researchprofessionalnews.com/rr-news-uk-p...
With England's system of tuition fees and student loans under fierce criticism, @chrisjparr.bsky.social speaks to the creator of that system, David Willetts.
Willetts points out Labour govt has not found an alternative model (though I don't think it has really tried to look for one).
Former UKRI leader Ottoline Leyser talks to @francesjones.bsky.social about the "horrible" funding problems facing Science and Technology Facilities Council.
STFC funds major facilities and labs, along with grants for physics and astronomy.
www.researchprofessionalnews.com/rr-news-uk-r...
It's been a busy couple of weeks covering the funding changes at UKRI, to put it mildly
Here are my thoughts on how it's played out
TL;DR...the message that curiosity-driven research is protected is not going to reassure those who are seeing their funding streams disrupted
🧵 New Research Fortnight out today!
In this issue, we put the spotlight on the impact and implications of major changes to funding being introduced by UK Research and Innovation.
www.researchprofessionalnews.com/rr-news-uk-p...
Full story, on disruptions to core funding streams raising fears for a “generation” of early career researchers, by @isaacbarbosa1.bsky.social @fionamcintyre.bsky.social
www.researchprofessionalnews.com/rr-news-uk-r...
Warnings that UKRI funding changes are pushing some early career researchers to move abroad.
STFC-funded research groups already "haemorrhaging", this researcher tells @resprofnews.bsky.social.
Breaking: Research Excellence Framework director to step down in April.
Former director Kim Hackett returning to oversee strategy while successor to Rebecca Fairbairn is found.
www.researchprofessionalnews.com/rr-news-uk-r...
Daria Sokhan's full opinion piece available to read for free here:
www.researchprofessionalnews.com/rr-news-uk-v...
Daria Sokhan also argues there hasn't been proper consultation with the scientific community, and that the resulting impacts go beyond the EIC.
10.02.2026 11:30 — 👍 0 🔁 0 💬 1 📌 0
EIC is one of several international physics infrastructure collaborations where UKRI pulled funding.
Daria Sokhan makes point about damage to EIC from lost UK funding, and potential damage to UK's reputation as partner in international science.
Powerful opinion piece about impact of UKRI pulling UK funds from Electron-Ion Collider project - US-based international facility for research into structure of matter - by Daria Sokhan, principal investigator on EIC-UK.
10.02.2026 11:23 — 👍 3 🔁 3 💬 1 📌 0
Unusual to hear a Russell Group v-c talking in the terms Manchester's Duncan Ivison does in interview with @chrisjparr.bsky.social.
He thinks scrapping the "massive, bureaucratic" REF should be on the table.
www.researchprofessionalnews.com/rr-news-uk-u...
Full story by @francesjones.bsky.social, on latest in what could be a damaging episode for the UK's standing in Cern, one of the world's most important international scientific collaborations.
www.researchprofessionalnews.com/rr-news-euro...
Fierce criticism of UKRI's decision to pull funding from upgrade of a detector on Cern's Large Hadron Collider.
Tim Gershon, leader on the experiment, warns it will "collapse" the project and international partners could "end up just wasting their money".
UKRI's chief executive said recently that the UK "may wish to explore" paring back its association to the EU's research programme, to make it partial.
That would be a "profound strategic error", critics now warn.
By @clanicholson.bsky.social
www.researchprofessionalnews.com/rr-news-euro...
STFC's science board was told of "long-term cut" to grants for physics and astronomy researchers, former member claims.
STFC, which funds both major facilities and grants, plans cuts of £162m by 29-20, as @resprofnews.bsky.social has revealed.
www.researchprofessionalnews.com/rr-news-uk-r...
Cern not offering comment to clarify the impact of lost UK funding on LHCb.
All this in context of Cern needing to raise much higher level of funding from members - including UK - for its Future Circular Collider, the LHC successor.
Full story here:
www.researchprofessionalnews.com/rr-news-euro...
More on the impact of UKRI pulling funding from a major experiment at Cern's Large Hadron Collider particle accelerator.
Experiment's leader tells @francesjones.bsky.social upgrade of LHCb detector is "essential" to maximising upgrade of LHC itself.
Nice to see there is a credit for @resprofnews.bsky.social from the Financial Times, recognising the first reporting of UKRI shelving UK funding for international physics infrastructure including upgrade to detector at Cern's LHC.
www.ft.com/content/e315...
Nature sums up 3 elements of UKRI funding changes: MRC/BBSRC grant pauses; STFC cuts; infrastructure deprioritised.
Shame there's no credit for @resprofnews.bsky.social which first revealed all three!
Stellar work by @francesjones.bsky.social @robinbisson.bsky.social @isaacbarbosa1.bsky.social
The question of whether there's a reproducibility crisis really matters when it comes to securing public support and funding for science. The Leptin "exaggerated" comments put more momentum into thinking on this issue.
Full article can be read here:
www.researchprofessionalnews.com/rr-news-worl...
But is the bigger question on reproducibility about AI? @elisabethbik.bsky.social says there is a definite crisis "when it comes to paper mills and artificial intelligence-generated crap".
06.02.2026 12:46 — 👍 1 🔁 0 💬 2 📌 0
Meanwhile, @ludowaltman.bsky.social argues there is too much emphasis on individual studies and trying to replicate them - when society needs "evidence synthesis" from science.
06.02.2026 12:43 — 👍 1 🔁 1 💬 1 📌 0
Is notion of a reproducibility crisis in science "exaggerated"?
After ERC's Maria Leptin suggests just that, @fionamcintyre.bsky.social talks to those studying the issue.
To judge whether there's a crisis, we would need to know "normal" level of reproducibility, says @martmichaelis.bsky.social
More concerns for UK physics and astronomy as Michele Dougherty warns of "a difficult couple of years in front of us" for STFC.
Asked by @resprofnews.bsky.social whether STFC will be able to fund any new projects over the next two years, Dougherty said "that’s part of our prioritisation process".
UK is pulling its funding for Cern's Large Hadron Collider upgrade, STFC leader Michele Dougherty confirms, after news first revealed by @francesjones.bsky.social @resprofnews.bsky.social
"We simply don’t have the money to do everything."
www.researchprofessionalnews.com/rr-news-uk-r...
