July 2020 E-Bulletin
New report on advocacy | R&D roadmap  |  Increased Investment  | Covid-19 Recovery
New CaSE report on how best to advocate for R&D Investment

CaSE and the Wellcome Trust have published a new report on how the R&D community can best sustain political and public support for increased  investment.

With R&D funding set to rise over the next ten years, advocates across the research sector must make a fresh and compelling case to political leaders and the public. Through our R&D Decade joint-project, CaSE and Wellcome are exploring how this advocacy will need to change between now  and 2030.

We've collaborated with policy specialists Public First to review advocacy approaches taken by other sectors, host public focus groups and consolidate this evidence into a new report Advocating for R&D Investment. The report sets out different advocacy models that describe how the research community might work together more effectively. 

Together with Wellcome we will be continuing our conversations with the R&D community over the summer to digest the findings of the report and inform our next steps.
R&D roadmap for UK science and innovation

Last week CaSE responded to the publishing of the government's R&D Roadmap, setting out its vision for science, research and innovation.  The roadmap re-confirms the government's commitment to increase public funding for R&D to 2.4% of GDP by 2027, as championed by CaSE and others in the sector. 

We were pleased to see the Government take on board many of the recommendations from our recent report The Power of Place on regional R&D investment, including the importance of identifying and investing in excellence and fully involving local and regional leaders across the UK in decisions about R&D investment. 

The roadmap also announced the expansion of post-study work visas for PhD students. CaSE has long called for the reintroduction of an internationally competitive post-study work route for international students and last week's announcement is the latest in a series of positive changes that CaSE has been calling for.

We have been invited to work with the government on the next steps of the roadmap and look forward to feeding the views of our members into this process.
Government matches CaSE recommendation on R&D investment

CaSE has welcomed a marked increase in public R&D investment set out by the government, towards meeting a research intensity of 2.4% GDP by 2027.  Last month the government announced a research funding allocation of £10.4 billion for the year 2020-21, in line with CaSE's own funding projections towards the 2.4% target.  This follows March's Spring Budget , in which the government announced plans to increase public R&D investment to £22  billion per year by 2024-25.

CaSE has long-called for increased R&D investment to unlock the scientific potential of the UK and we're delighted that the Government are putting their words into action.
Ensuring the entire research system recovers from Covid-19

The Government has announced a package of measures designed to support the university research base from the effects of the Covid-19 pandemic.  These include a new funding scheme to cover up to 80% of a university's income losses from a decline in international students.

While welcoming the measures, CaSE has called on the government to ensure that all areas of the UK research base are protected from the effects of Covid-19. 
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