Research England (RE)
Created following the 2017 Higher Education and Research Act replacing the previous Higher Education Funding Council for England (HEFCE), is responsible for funding English higher education and of some key nation wide processes like the Research Excellence Framework in coordination with Scottish, Wales and Northern Ireland institutions.
RE: English Higher Education
Research England supports the higher education research system in England:
- Dual support system of the English higher education system.
- Quality-related research funding (QR), via allocations.
- Research degree supervision costs via allocations.
- Toping-up real costs of charity research work via allocations.
- Supporting business-universities research collaboration via allocations.
RE: administration of initiatives in England
Research England is responsible of the administration of some initiatives for England:
- Expanding Excellence in England (E3) Fund. Designed to build the capacity and quality of research in departments and units within English universities. Application method.
- International Investment Initiative (i3). Designed to support the scaling up of existing strategically significant internationally collaborative research relationships between English HEIs and those from abroad. Application method.
- Higher Education Innovation Fund (HEIF): £210m funding for knowledge exchange “to support and develop a broad range of knowledge-based interactions between universities and the wider world”. Allocation method.
- Research England Development (RED) Fund to develop and enhance the effectiveness of university research.
- Strength in Places Fund (SIPF). Cross council programme supporting R&D strengths.
- UKRPIF. Capital funding.
- Global Challenges Research Fund (GCRF): £58m distributed to English universities in 2018-19. QR GCRF is allocated to universities in proportion to their mainstream QR allocations, including London weighting. Allocation method
RE: coordination of UK initiatives
Research England coordinates some key UK national initiatives:
- Research Excellence Framework (REF). Allocation method.
- Knowledge Exchange Framework (KEF). Allocation method.
- UK Research Partnership Investment Fund (UKRPIF). The largest competitive grant funding scheme managed by RE. Capital funding.
UKRI Strategy 2022-2027, Corporate Plan 2022-2025 and Delivery Plans 2019-20
- UKRI's Strategy 2022-2027 transforming tomorrrow together is available online.
- The latest UKRI Corporate Plan 2022-2025 (August 2022): "UKRI’s corporate plan demonstrates how the world-class research and innovation UKRI supports will drive economic, social, environmental and cultural benefits for all."
- All the councils 2019-20 Delivery Plans are available on the UKRO website.
- The UK Government Research and Development Roadmap July 2020 announcement of the new comprehensive plan in short time.