So you’re new to… areas of research interest

A primer on what are effectively cheat-sheets for policy impact

Paul Nurse’s review of the research councils in 2014 had a significant effect on the UK’s research landscape. It led to the formation of UK Research and Innovation, an £8 billion a year behemoth, and, in turn, to the creation of the £834 million interdisciplinary Strategic Priorities Fund. Not a bad result.  

One of the lesser-known suggestions of the review was that “research should be at the heart of government, with an effective dialogue and understanding between researchers, politicians and the public, so that policies and strategies are in place to bring about research that benefits society”.