Scientists are involved that curiosity-driven research is about to be additional reduce after three research councils confirmed they’ve paused funding opportunities.
Amid a shake-up of how UK Research and Innovation (UKRI) allocates budgets for its research councils, three of the most important – the Medical Research Council (MRC), the Biotechnology and Biological Sciences Research Council (BBSRC) and the Engineering and Physical Sciences Research Council (EPSRC) have confirmed a number of of their predominant funding routes have been suspended in current months till additional discover.
At the MRC, which had a core finances of £602 million in 2025-26, applicant-led research grants, new investigator research grants and partnership grants have been paused since late December with no indication of after they may reopen.
Some of the MRC’s translational funding opportunities together with experimental medicine, the developmental pathway funding scheme and the developmental pathway gap fund have additionally been made unavailable to candidates.
Applicant-led responsive funding can also be not open on the BBSRC – a transfer which impacts commonplace research grants and new investigator awards.
That strikes follows a choice to align the BBSRC’s funding processes with UKRI’s funding mannequin, together with the elimination of cut-off dates. However, no responsive mode funding scheme is at the moment open.
Meanwhile, the EPSRC has announced that functions to its programme grant scheme have been paused within the areas of vitality and decarbonisation (clear development), manufacturing and round financial system and quantum applied sciences.
The suspension of a number of funding calls comes amid rising issues over the destiny of funding for curiosity-driven science after the Science and Technology Facilities Council (STFC) mentioned it was looking for to cut its budget by £162 million by 2029-30. Reductions in new grants to particle physics, astronomy and nuclear physics fell by 15 per cent final yr however extra substantial financial savings could be wanted, the council’s govt chair Michelle Dougherty defined in a letter on 28 January.
Overall finances settlements for the UK’s seven research councils, plus Innovate UK and Research England, have but to be publicly introduced. Instead, a UKRI budget explainer in December outlined solely the “curiosity-driven research” ingredient for every council’s finances, with particular cross-council allocations for 9 industrial technique sectors additionally introduced.
That reform signalled an “intentional move towards a more cross-disciplinary, programmatic and outcomes-focused model”, mentioned STFC chair Dougherty.
Alicia Greated, govt director of the Campaign for Science and Engineering (CaSE), has criticised the lack of understanding relating to UKRI funding adjustments.
“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 mentioned.
One senior UK scientist, who didn’t want to be named, mentioned 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 mentioned, noting the “60 per cent inflation” and the “bigger fractional take by universities as overheads” because the final full yr of the earlier Labour authorities.
“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 mentioned: “After a document four-year spending overview settlement, UKRI is altering the way in which it makes investments together with aligning with nationwide priorities to ship our mission to advance information, change lives and drive development.
“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 underway. 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.”