keynote address by martin bobrow
DESCRIPTION
"Issues in Research Funding Allocation".AbstractCharities, governments and other funders of research mustprioritise the areas in which they allocate research funding. Anold but unresolved issue, is the weight that should be givento questions that the general public feel need urgent answers.Other groups remind us of the unsolved pressing issues of thedeveloping world and the responsibility we have developingpreventive measures and treatments for tropical and orphandiseases.This keynote lecture, delivered by Professor Martin Bobrow, willintroduce us to some considerations relating to science fundingin this. Should global disease priorities, achievability of researchgoals or research quality be guiding funding allocation? As asociety, do we need ethical guidelines that would drive futureresearch agendas? Are these guidelines more urgently needed inrecession times?SpeakerMartin Bobrow studied medicine in South Africa. He worked inEdinburgh and Oxford, before becoming Professor of MedicalGenetics in Amsterdam, London and then Cambridge in 1995.He retired from this post in 2005.He has been Deputy Chairman of the Wellcome Trust, Chairmanof ULTRA (Unrelated Living Transplant Regulating Authority),Chairman of COMARE (Department of Health AdvisoryCommittee on radiation in the Environment), Deputy Chairmanof the Nuffield Council on Bioethics, Chairman of the MuscularDystrophy Campaign and a member of the Medical ResearchCouncil and the Human Genetics Advisory Commission.TRANSCRIPT
Digital EconomyEnergyGlobal Food SecurityGlobal UncertaintiesLifelong Health and Wellbeing Living with Environmental Change
Research Council priority programmes
(BIS 2010)
What broad principles guide (and restrain) those who allocate research funds?
•What is research? Very varied; principles should be generalisable•Is source of funds (government vs. charity vs. commercial) of over-riding importance?•Should research findings be for the “public good”? And if so, what exactly IS the public good?
Research Councils 2,549,353 AHRC 100,717 BBSRC 362,341 EPSRC 771,289 ESRC 158,061 MRC 545,585 NERC 298,071 HEFCE 1,731,300 QR Research 1,618,300 National Academies 87,832 Royal Society 48,558 British Academy 26,448 Royal Academy of Engineering 12,826 Science & Society 15,441 International 5,104 UK Space Agency 163,805 Total S&R Resource 4,575,906
2010/11 Government Research Spend (£1000’s)
Adapted from BIS 2010
What do funding panels consider?•Originality•Importance of question/impact of result•Timeliness/tractability•Track record•“Science quality” – how well is the project thought through?•Applicability/commercial potential•Costs/value•strategic fit
AHRC funds research, training and knowledge exchange in the arts and humanities. Its strategic goal is to deliver world-leading research that: § furthers understanding of human society, culture and creativity; § analyses historical and social context, and the interpretation of experiences, identities and cultural assumptions; and § creates social and economic benefits directly and indirectly through improvement in social and intellectual capital, social networking, community identity, learning and skills and quality of life.
(BIS 2010)
Approximate annual R&D spend, UK
MRCNIHRBig charitiespharma
Extracted from NESTA 2011
Two common strategic directives:
•Translational research•Tropical infectious diseases and other work of benefit to people in poor countries