There's some amazing work being done across the sector to support postgraduate and early-career researchers to engage beyond academia. There are also policy and strategy changes that may impact what that looks like. Here are some of our favourite articles and most significant publications from the last month:
Public attitudes to R&D 2025: new research from CaSE looked at public perceptions of an attitudes towards R&D in the UK. Importantly, while a good majority agree that R&D is an important government investment, very few feel any personal impact or benefit on their lives, and any benefits they do recognise feel "vague and hard to articulate." Public and industry engagement could be a great way to tackle this perception by improving research impact.
UK's failure to retain and scale science and technology causing economy to bleed out, warns Lords Committee: this report from the Science and Technology Committee from early this month strongly urged the government to reform the science R&D system in the UK, in order to prevent the economy "bleeding out." Recommendations include enabling easier career transitions between academia, business, and government, and an urgent need to address the financial crisis among universities.
Public attitudes to R&D 2025: new research from CaSE looked at public perceptions of an attitudes towards R&D in the UK. Importantly, while a good majority agree that R&D is an important government investment, very few feel any personal impact or benefit on their lives, and any benefits they do recognise feel "vague and hard to articulate." Public and industry engagement could be a great way to tackle this perception by improving research impact.
Culture, employment and development of academic researchers survey (CEDARS): the report for Vitae’s CEDARS survey was released this month, with some hugely interesting findings around professional development and career progression. We’re looking forward to exploring this work in more detail!
UKRI corporate plan update 2025 to 2027: UKRI has released an updated corporate plan ahead of new council strategic delivery plans due in the spring. As expected, this updated plan places significant emphasis on industry growth and aligning with the government’s Industrial Strategy.
Rebooting the UK’s tech-diffusion ecosystem to drive growth: this new publication from the Tony Blair Institute for Global Change recommends, among other things, establishing a “network of university technology-adoption centres” to allow HEIs to become a key part of national tech transfer.
