Government’s R&D target hangs in the balance

Last week’s £250 million budget boost was necessary, but won’t be sufficient, says Rosalind Lowe

Last Thursday, as the Easter weekend approached, many in the research community breathed a sigh of relief when the government issued a press release announcing a £250 million uplift in research funding.

The additional money provides clarity on funding for the 2021-22 financial year, and allayed mounting concern that UK Research and Innovation would have to raid its other budgets to find the cost of associating to the European Union’s research programme Horizon Europe.