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Research Fortnight 12 June issue: stories on research training, UK performance, electronic submissions, rail research, and animal experiments

June 12, 2002

Councils told research training status must rise
Trained researchers should be seen as a standard output of research, in the same way as journal papers, according to a review carried out for the higher education funding councils. There should also be more coordination between sponsors of research training to set common standards and assessment procedures as well as measures to protect training in new or emerging disciplines. The review, commissioned by the UK funding councils, will be published in the coming months.

Investment needed to keep UK competitive
Research in UK universities is internationally competitive and has improved measurably in the last 15 years. But this performance will be unsustainable if necessary levels of investment and re-investment cannot be met. These are the conclusions of a study conducted by Evidence, a research consultancy, for Universities UK, the higher education funding councils and the Office of Science and Technology. The study is due to be released by the end of this month.

Concerns raised over future of electronic submissions
Universities have expressed concern that the research councils' joint electronic submission system should not lose momentum, as the councils begin the "difficult" process of deciding how to implement the new framework. The basic framework was published in March, after a series of delays, but the councils are now divided over which system they should use.

Rail research not a priority for reborn DfT
The government has confirmed that it plans to leave rail research largely up to industry, despite acknowledging last August that research would be key to the changes urgently needed in the sector. The announcement came in a document outlining the new Department for Transport's research budgets for 2002-3, published after the departmental reshuffle was announced a fortnight ago.

Peers slate Home Office attitude to research worries
Research using animals is being driven outside the UK by an increase in bureaucracy within the licensing system, the House of Lords select committee on animals in scientific procedures warned in its final meeting a fortnight ago. The peers told the Home Office that its failure to listen to scientists' concerns smacked of "smugness".

Research Fortnight Ltd