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hatrack

(59,440 posts)
Sun Mar 14, 2021, 09:44 AM Mar 2021

More Visionary Bojo Leadership; +/- 50% Cuts To UK Global Research On Climate, Resistant Diseases

Hundreds of key research projects aimed at tackling some of the world’s major problems – from antimicrobial resistance to the climate crisis – will have to be cancelled or cut back thanks to budget cuts imposed by the government. Last week, the UK Research and Innovation (UKRI) agency – which controls science funding in Britain – told universities that its budget for international development projects had been cut from £245m to £125m.

The move has incensed leading researchers, who say it will erode Britain’s ability to make key contributions to improving world health and battle the climate crisis. Jeremy Farrar, director of the Wellcome Trust, said the news was “very concerning” while Professor Alan McNally, of the institute of microbiology and infection at the University of Birmingham, described the cuts as devastating. “This is the only avenue we have had for meaningful funding of antimicrobial resistance research in countries where the research needs to be done,” he said.

Bob Ward, policy director at the Grantham Research Institute on Climate Change and the Environment, told the Observer that the cuts immediately undermined the chancellor’s budget pledge to make the UK a scientific superpower.

“This reckless and shortsighted act could create a gaping hole in the UK’s climate research, just as we prepare to host the crucial Cop26 UN summit later this year,” he added.

EDIT

https://www.theguardian.com/science/2021/mar/14/uk-scientists-attack-reckless-tory-cuts-to-international-research

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