Welcome to Research Agenda. We’re looking ahead to tomorrow’s Budget with a round-up of who wants what across the research and innovation space: spinouts, IP, AI for science, creative industry R&D, and more.

Plus: This week’s essay seeks to understand the UK’s research infrastructure landscape, while Haldane reads a Policy Exchange report and our latest explainer unpacks the dual support system.

We’ve also got two new features going live: Readout, a daily digest of what’s new on the site, as well as a full calendar of upcoming research business.

Michael Salmon, Editor

michael@researchagenda.news

Pay attention to this

If you look down our newspages, you can sense it’s the Budget tomorrow. In everything from creative industries R&D tax credits to university equity shares in spinouts, someone is trying to catch the government’s eye. Last week the influential House of Commons Public Accounts Committee took aim at UKRI’s policy on IP, saying that the funder is being “far too cautious”.

The report called for a much greater emphasis on retaining the value of research in the UK – which is funny, as that’s exactly what the government has been pushing for recently. The pre-Budget vibes were particularly noticeable in this case, given that the committee was supposed to be writing a report on research infrastructure. Thankfully, this week’s Research Agenda essay sees Liz Bal and Victoria Moody reckoning with just that topic, explaining why we can’t understand the UK’s research capacity if the question of what infrastructure the country has, and where, remains difficult to answer.

Returning to the Budget, there’s an open question about whether all the lobbying efforts really amount to much, beyond different parts of the sector talking to one another and a few keen politicians and think tankers. In our lead story today, we’ve deliberately cast the net a bit wider, with a look at what business groups, science companies and independent research organisations are seeking to get out of the Treasury this time round and further down the road.

On the topic of keeping up with the news, Research Agenda is adding a new daily morning email service, Readout, so that you can stay on top of what’s new on the site each day. Sign up here – it will start arriving from next week.

And that’s not the only new feature: there’s now a dedicated calendar page where you can see upcoming events, reports and parliamentary business in the weeks and months ahead – and even add your own. View the calendar here, and let us know if you have any feedback.

The UK can’t make the most of its research infrastructure if we can’t see it

A world-leading research system needs world-leading infrastructure – and it needs to know where it is.

Liz Bal and Victoria Moody

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

Worth your time from Wonkhe and across the wider community.

PhD students to get parental leave, but no support with childcare costs  Kate Bowen-Viner · Wonkhe

Does adding mean increase? Measurement, AI and the remaking of research  James Wilson · Frontiers Policy Labs

Universities can’t leave LGBTQ+ researchers to manage the backlash alone  Rosie Nelson et al · Wonkhe

Accounting for large language masses: a time capsule  Dane Pflueger et al · Journal of Cultural Economy

Where research policy made the news.

BBC News   Only one female scientist named in GCSEs, research finds

The i Paper   The iconic site Burnham vowed to save – that allies warn is at risk from his Budget

Financial Times   Cern chief urges Europe to back new €16bn particle accelerator

The Times   ‘Sad day for science’ as reading rooms close at British Library

Financial Times   China’s rapid human trials draw western drugmakers – and safety concerns

See full calendar and submit your own event →

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