UK Research and Innovation

UK Research and Innovation (UKRI) is a non-departmental public body of the Government of the United Kingdom that directs research and innovation funding, funded through the science budget of the Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy.

UK Research and Innovation
Formation1 April 2018
TypeNon-departmental public body
HeadquartersSwindon, Wiltshire, England
Staff
7,463 (2019/20)
Websitewww.ukri.org

History and role

Established on 1 April 2018 by the Higher Education and Research Act 2017, UKRI brought nine organisations into one unified body.[1][2] UKRI was created following a report by Sir Paul Nurse, the President of the Royal Society, who recommended the merger in order to increase integrative cross-disciplinary research.[3]

Working in partnership with universities, research organisations, businesses, charities and government, its mission is to foster research and development within the United Kingdom and create a positive "impact" – "push the frontiers of human knowledge and understanding", "deliver economic impact" and "create social and cultural impact".[2] The first Chief Executive Officer of UKRI was the immunologist Professor Sir Mark Walport.[4] He was succeeded on 29 June 2020 by plant biologist Professor Dame Ottoline Leyser.[5]

It maintains the Gateway to Research (Gtr) portal "to enable users to search and analyse information about publicly funded research".[6]

Research councils

There are nine bodies in UKRI, comprising the seven research councils formerly organised under Research Councils UK and two additional bodies, Innovate UK and Research England.[7] Innovate UK had its roots in the Department of Trade and Industry, while Research England succeeded the former Higher Education Funding Council for England. Research England is responsible for the Research Excellence Framework, or REF, and is developing a new knowledge exchange framework, KEF.[8]

Research council Formation Website Budget 2019–2020[9]
Arts and Humanities Research Council 2005 AHRC Website £140M
Biotechnology and Biological Sciences Research Council 1994 BBSRC website £459M
Engineering and Physical Sciences Research Council 1994 EPSRC website £1096M
Economic and Social Research Council 1965 ESRC website £252M
Medical Research Council 1913 MRC website £742M
Natural Environment Research Council 1965 NERC website £444M
Science and Technology Facilities Council 2007 STFC website £728M
Innovate UK 2007 Innovate UK £1265M
Research England 2018 Research England £2377M

References
  1. "John Kingman to Lead Creation of New £6 Billion Research and Innovation Body - GOV.UK". www.gov.uk. Retrieved 4 September 2017.
  2. "About us - UK Research and Innovation". www.ukri.org. Retrieved 5 May 2019.
  3. "Nurse review of research councils". GOV.UK. Retrieved 5 May 2019.
  4. Ghosh, Pallab (4 July 2017). "UK Research Chief "Will Not Direct Science"". BBC News. Retrieved 4 September 2017.
  5. "Professor Dame Ottoline Leyser to join UK Research and Innovation as new Chief Executive". www.ukri.org. Retrieved 28 June 2019.
  6. "Introducing the Gateway to Research Portal". gtr.ukri.org. UK Research and Innovation. Retrieved 3 April 2020.
  7. "Our Councils - UK Research and Innovation". www.ukri.org. Retrieved 29 August 2020.
  8. Pells, Rachael (14 October 2017). "England's KEF: will it be a 'patent-counting' extra reporting burden?". Times Higher Education (THE). Retrieved 10 April 2018.
  9. Figures from summing breakdown in budget outturn excluding administrative spend from the "Annual Report and Accounts 2019–2020". UK Research and Innovation. 16 July 2020. Retrieved 29 August 2020.
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