Where Does the UK’s Science Funding Go

According to the SCImago Journal & Country Rank, the United Kingdom is the world’s third most influential nation in terms of scientific research and output. Trailing behind only the far larger nations of United States and China, the UK’s contribution to the science world is hugely significant, helping to progress important areas of study and understanding.

Both Governmental and private funding contribute towards the UK’s scientific output – with institutes all around the country battling for all-important cash injections. The allocation of funding is a hot topic for almost everybody involved in the sciences in any way; with so many worthy recipients, the decision regarding monetary distribution is controversial and convoluted in equal measure.

Accusations of favouritism in science funding have been thrown around for years, and are unlikely to fade away. Many believe their projects or institutes are routinely overlooked when bidding for funding because they are working on unglamorous projects or belong to less-romanticised schools/research teams.

In a bid to understand where the UK’s funding for the sciences currently goes, we are exploring the regions, disciplines and projects which receive the highest levels of funding.

Government Contributions
The Government outlined a commitment to scientific research by pledging £1.1bn per year to the UK’s scientific infrastructure until 2021. This was outlined in the Allocation of Science and Research Funding 2015/16 guide. Published in 2014, this guide helped to alleviate the concern that the sciences would be amongst the most affected areas when anticipated public spending cuts were put into action.

The funding will come from the Department for Business, Innovation and Skills (BIS) – whose total investment in the sciences reached £5.8bn in cash terms by the end of the Financial Year 2015/16. Since its inception in 2009, the BIS has been dedicated to encouraging economic growth.

With one eye on maintaining the UK’s position as a world leading force in a range of scientific fields and the other on keeping the purse strings tight; the Government has revealed plans to target investments which reap the largest rewards. The above guide states:

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“This continuing investment in our world-class research base will help us achieve our ambition to make the UK the best place in the world to do science and research.

“But with this continued Government commitment to our excellent UK research base, comes a challenge to ensure we gain maximum benefit from this investment. This means continuing to build on efficiencies, increasing collaboration to develop creative solutions to shared goals, and doing more to leverage business and charity funding. These are themes which run throughout these allocations.”

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However, the guide does suggest there is a little room for scientific indulgence:

“We are also providing funding for our outstanding researchers to pursue curiosity driven research. We continue to fund the UK’s National Academies for this purpose. In addition, for the first time in 2015/16 we will be providing a funding allocation to the Academy of Medical Science, alongside its sister Academies.”

Haldane Principle
Utilising the Haldane Principle, the Government allocated budget for the sciences is based upon the advice of researchers and peer reviews rather than the opinions of politicians. This century-old principle remains a pivotal part of the Government’s scientific funding.

However, the Government did set out a few priority areas for science and research funding, determined by the potential to maximise the economic and social benefits of the research. The Government sought the advice from the following bodies, all of which offer high-level overviews of science and research:

The Allocations
The Government allocations to the sciences can be split into five distinct groups:

Research Councils
Higher Education Funding Council for England (HEFCE)
UK Space Agency
National Academies
Other Programmes

These allocations were divided as such:

Research Council Allocations
As demonstrated, research councils are receiving the lion’s share of the 2015/16 allocations – split across 10 different councils.

Arts and Humanities Research Council (AHRC)
Biotechnology and Biological Sciences Research Council (BBSRC)
Engineering and Physical Sciences Research Council (EPSRC)
Economic and Social Research Council (ESRC)
Medical Research Council (MRC)
Natural Environment Research Council (NERC)¹ Core Programme
NERC² Antarctic Logistics and Infrastructure
Science and Technology Facilities Council (STFC)¹ Core Programme
STFC² International Subscriptions
STFC³ Cross-Council Facilities

These allocations were divided as such:

National Academies Allocations
The four national academies benefitting from the Government investment are:

Royal Society
British Academy
Royal Academy of Engineering
Academy of Medical Sciences

You might have noticed these institutions were all involved in the decision-making progress. Their allocations are divided as follows:

Other Programmes and Miscellanea
A few institutions and programmes which sit outside of the stated groups have also received funding. These are:

Science & Society
International
Newton Fund
Government Office for Science
Evidence & Evaluation
Alan Turing Institute

Their allocations are divided as follows:

Regional Research Investment
The Research Councils UK (RCUK) is the body responsible for investing public money in research projects. Intending to help advance knowledge and generate ideas to encourage a productive economy, health society and a more sustainable world; the research council allocates millions of pounds every year to research teams throughout the UK.

Here is a regional breakdown of the research funding allocation for every financial year between 2005 and 2015.

Regional Spend (£K)

*Medical Council of Research

Please find original figures here.

	2014-15	2013-14	2012-13	2011-12	2010-11	2009-10	2008-09	2007-08	2006-07	2005-06
East	412,270	401,743	385,788	414,610	439,987	384,325	359,642	315,347	308,943	172,845
London	671,644	732,846	607,833	571,398	506,874	493,822	455,641	428,566	353,590	165,501
Midlands	264,152	213,529	209,959	216,563	207,194	205,126	194,101	172,653	151,657	113,104
North East	65,160	69,854	65,272	70,405	66,278	69,133	59,951	51,938	47,870	36,202
North West	197,851	196,567	155,783	162,240	160,795	171,172	161,490	160,855	147,775	96,892
South East	738,223	632,913	600,314	657,659	551,127	567,618	577,744	509,263	500,653	427,639
South West	189,490	167,580	134,391	136,263	125,823	118,637	105,116	93,892	82,472	62,669
Yorkshire & H/side	160,118	151,183	137,495	139,674	135,588	142,005	135,613	130,839	114,112	92,668
MRC*										413,945
England (Total)	2,698,908	2,566,215	2,296,835	2,368,812	2,193,666	2,151,838	2,049,298	1,863,353	1,707,072	1,581,465
Northern Ireland	20,650	20,146	17,522	17,638	18,343	19,975	17,000	12,424	9,918	7,558
Scotland	323,594	314,585	298,453	281,100	274,962	276,443	262,470	226,547	186,645	182,422
Wales	66,154	70,298	56,198	59,766	56,729	61,034	55,585	55,388	46,907	41,852
*Total*	3,109,308	2,971,244	2,669,007	2,727,317	2,543,699	2,509,291	2,384,354	2,157,713	1,950,544	1,813,295

Although these figures do not represent the total funding received from government and independent sources in each region, they provide a good indication of the areas which receive the highest levels of funding.

London and the South receive significantly higher levels of funding than the Midlands and the North. Every year over the last decade this pattern has remained the same. There are concerns this perceived uneven weighting of funding could inhibit the growth of research disciplines in the least-funded areas. With little financial impetus, the brightest minds of the Midlands and the North may be reluctant to stay close to home, venturing instead to the well-funded regions in London and the South. This could perpetuate the same pattern, and leave the Midlands and the North lagging further behind the South in terms of scientific contribution and significance.

A brighter point however, there is evidence that the level of funding has increased almost year-on-year in every region, demonstrating that funding for research is at least growing in line with inflation, if not ahead of inflation. With a severe global recession hitting during this period, it is a relief to see that public spending of research projects did not suffer significantly.

This provides encouragement for the research laboratories and teams seeking funding to start or continue vital projects. Hopefully this ongoing dedication to the sciences can help the UK retain its position as the world’s third largest contributor to the field.

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Where Does the UK’s Science Funding Go

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