Welcome to this week’s Research Agenda. We want your feedback: how are you finding this new service, and how could we improve it further?

Plus: Andy Burnham has unveiled big ambitions on regional innovation – this week’s essay thinks through how to make this work in practice. Elsewhere the metascience unit has been thinking about AI-powered research, KEF results are out, and Haldane is unsurprisingly not a fan of the latest developments in Trump’s America.

Michael Salmon, Editor

michael@researchagenda.news

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Today’s essay comes from Dan Parsons and Helen Turner, and it’s a highly topical one. Last Friday saw the Prime Minister commit to the goal of making the country the “world’s leading innovation nation”, with devolution of R&I funding playing an important role in how this will be achieved. Our authors set out two tests for any such rewiring, stressing the importance of careful thinking about the geography of innovation.

Two tests for devolving innovation

The government’s upcoming moves on devolution must align with innovation ecosystems, not create new boundaries.

Dan Parsons  ·  PVC Research and Innovation, Loughborough University

Helen Turner  ·  Director, Midlands Innovation

The week on the wire – every item reported in full on the site.

Wellcome has released the 2026 edition of its Global Monitor, based on surveys of more than 140,000 people around the world. It finds that internationally trust in science has fallen since the pandemic, but the picture “varies sharply” by region – trust is lowest among those who feel they are struggling to get by.

The Research Excellence Framework team has confirmed that final criteria and guidance for REF 2029 will be published in mid-November.

The Institute of Physics has announced the winners of its 2026 awards, including the Isaac Newton medal, which this year goes to Max Planck Institute of Quantum Optics director Ignacio Cirac.

A joint investment of £54m from UKRI and various government departments has been awarded to 18 biosecurity projects led by UK research institutions.

Universal Quantum, a University of Sussex quantum computing spinout, has secured over $100m in series A funding.

ARIA has welcomed Sarah Hill as its new chief operating officer. She was most recently chief delivery officer at the National Security Strategic Investment Fund.

AI company Redpine has signed an agreement with publishers including BMJ Group and Sage which will see research outputs licensed for AI-driven scientific discovery, including via a pay-per-use model.

Worth your time from Wonkhe and across the wider community.

Procurement is a collaboration question too  James Coe · Wonkhe

If research security feels like bureaucracy, we are making the wrong case  Sapna Marwaha · LSE Impact

Will AI scoop your science? Some researchers see a gloomy future  Kaia Glickman · Nature

Where research policy made the news this week.

The Times   Why Nobel prizes for science may no longer be fit for purpose

Financial Times   Academic publishing is a study in fighting AI slop

The Observer   Paul Nurse: The classroom divide leaving young people ill-equipped for life

The Guardian   Scientists who put faith in technology less likely to take climate action

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