Scientists are concerned that curiosity-driven research is set to be further cut back after three research councils confirmed they have paused funding opportunities.

Amid a shake-up of how UK Research and Innovation (UKRI) allocates budgets for its research councils, three of the largest – the Medical Research Council (MRC), the Biotechnology and Biological Sciences Research Council (BBSRC) and the Engineering and Physical Sciences Research Council (EPSRC) have confirmed several of their main funding routes have been suspended in recent months until further notice.

At the MRC, which had a core budget of , applicant-led research grants, new investigator research grants and partnership grants have been paused since late December with no indication of when they might reopen.

Some of the MRC’s translational funding opportunities including , the  and the  have also been made unavailable to applicants.

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Applicant-led responsive funding is also not open at the BBSRC – a move that affects standard research grants and new investigator awards.

This follows a decision to align the BBSRC’s funding processes with UKRI’s funding model, including the removal of closing dates. However, no responsive mode funding scheme is currently open.

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Meanwhile, the EPSRC has  that applications to its programme grant scheme have been paused in the areas of energy and decarbonisation (clean growth), manufacturing and circular economy and quantum technologies.

The suspension of multiple funding calls comes amid growing concerns over the fate of funding for curiosity-driven science after the Science and Technology Facilities Council (STFC) said it was seeking to find savings of £162 million by 2029-30. Reductions in new grants to particle physics, astronomy and nuclear physics fell by 15 per cent last year but more substantial savings would be needed, the council’s executive chair Michelle Dougherty explained in a letter on 28 January.

Overall budget settlements for the UK’s seven research councils, plus Innovate UK and Research England, have yet to be publicly announced. Instead, a UKRI  in December outlined only the “curiosity-driven research” element for each council’s budget, with specific cross-council allocations for nine industrial strategy sectors also announced.

That reform signalled an “intentional move towards a more cross-disciplinary, programmatic and outcomes-focused model”, said STFC chair Dougherty.

Alicia Greated, executive director of the Campaign for Science and Engineering (CaSE), has criticised the lack of information regarding UKRI funding changes.

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“The ongoing restructure to UKRI funding is not going to be possible without some disruption – however every effort must be made to explain the changes, decisions, and rationale to the sector. The information we have had so far is a failure in communication and transparency,” she said.

One senior UK scientist, who did not wish to be named, said he feared the suspension of funding calls was “really just code for further funding cuts”.

“This year’s funding for research councils is slightly hard to gauge because of the purposely obfuscatory means now used to report it, but for councils like BBSRC income [for applicant-led funding] is less than half what it was in 2009,” he said, noting the “60 per cent inflation” and the “bigger fractional take by universities as overheads” since the last full year of the previous Labour government.

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“Contrast this with China who is pouring money into science and technology. History will not look kindly on the way the UK science base actively is being destroyed – these cuts must be reversed.”

A UKRI spokesperson said: “After a record four-year spending review settlement, UKRI is changing the way it makes investments including aligning with national priorities to deliver our mission to advance knowledge, change lives and drive growth.

“This involves reshaping to focus on three main areas: curiosity-driven research, strategic government and societal priorities, and supporting innovative companies to start and scale.”

“While this will lead to new opportunities for the research community in all four areas in the coming financial year, it does involve a period of transition and that process is under way. We will be able to communicate about forthcoming opportunities in the near future, though taking the time to plan properly to deliver against our mission is the right thing to do.”

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jack.grove@timeshighereducation.com