An interesting piece from Mark Henderson, on the Times Online website. Lord Drayson, Science Minister, was defending the case for research impact to young researchers opposed to its introduction in the REF. .” Lord Drayson argued that if science and academia are to continue to claim significant public funding, they have to do a better job of explaining its benefits — not least to make the case to an often sceptical Treasury on the look-out for easy cuts.” Meanwhile, at the Royal Society, Henderson tells us that Lord Rees was making an eloquent case against the impact agenda, saying that: “There’s a risk that current efforts to prioritise and ‘audit’ academic research will backfire, by eroding the strength of our universities and thereby weakening the UK’s competitiveness as a high-tech nation.” Read the article online and watch the debate with Lord Drayson online at the THES.
