The UK¡¯s universities and science minister has said that he wants to create a five-year financial framework programme to fund research with strategic missions ¡°centred¡± inside it, similar to the European Union¡¯s system, to promote public understanding of the benefits of research funding.

The EU¡¯s research programmes run for seven years and aim to address particular social challenges.

Chris Skidmore told a fringe meeting on research at the Conservative party conference on 30?September that there was a ¡°disconnect between the funding going out of the door to fund a project¡± and public recognition of the benefits of that funding.

The ¡°frustrations of turning on the Today programme to hear this latest discovery¡¯s been made or invention created but with no understanding of how that came to be funded¡± were ¡°perennial¡± in government, the minister told the meeting, hosted by the Royal Society, the British Academy and other learned societies.

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The minister added that Boris Johnson, the prime minister, had spoken at a business lunch that day at which he ¡°gave an incredibly strong case for investing in science and universities¡±.

But Mr Skidmore referred to the ¡°plethora¡± of funding pots within the government¡¯s industrial strategy, ¡°and that¡¯s aside, obviously, from all the research council funding¡±.

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He said that having returned to the universities and science brief after a seven-week sojourn as a health minister, there were ¡°two clear lessons that I?now want to try and resolve¡±.

First, in light of the fact that ¡°the centre [of government] seems to be keen to further investment in science and R&D¡±, he would like to explore ¡°how can we ensure public perception follows the money, as it were¡± and ¡°how can we potentially create a more sustainable approach to funding?¡±

Rather than an annual funding settlement, ¡°maybe over a five-year period we could have an increase in the science budget that is not just a monetary increase¡±, he suggested.

¡°One of the great selling points of the EU Horizon programme is that it¡¯s very visible and understandable to the public,¡± said Mr Skidmore. ¡°People know where the money has come from and what it¡¯s being spent on.¡±

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He added that he was interested in considering the question of ¡°if we¡¯re going to look at increasing the science and research budget for the longer term, how can we do so in a structured, sustainable way that might also create a multi-[year] financial framework where the public can say, ¡®that came from that particular pot¡¯.¡±

The minister referred to ¡°having an overarching framework programme like they have in the EU¡±. He added that ¡°my ambition and the government¡¯s ambition is still to associate into Horizon Europe¡±.

¡°But we want to go further,¡± he continued. ¡°The prime minister has been very clear he wants to go further in a number of areas.¡±

A framework programme approach could ¡°begin to create more missions¡±, Mr Skidmore said, outlining his second priority. There is currently a mission-based approach in some research funding, but there was scope to ¡°go further and centre these missions within a financial programme for science¡±, he added, suggesting that such programmes could run from 2025-30, for example.

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This would demonstrate that particular research projects ¡°belong to a programme that taxpayers¡¯ money ¨C their money ¨C has paid for, and that they can share in the benefits of that research¡±, the minister argued.

john.morgan@timeshighereducation.com