In the Autumn Statement 2016, The Chancellor announced an additional £2 billion per year for research and innovation by 2020/21.
"The Chancellor's announcement today acknowledges the role of R&D in driving the economy and in particular the important role research can have in improving UK productivity. The Challenge led approach offers the potential to deploy the UK research base to work in partnership with UK business and build on our key UK strengths."
Professor Philip Nelson, Chair of Research Councils UK
Science is pivotal to the UK's ability to support jobs, improve productivity and drive economic growth.
That's why we have protected the research funding budget for universities and protected our science budget in real terms until 2020.
We also want to see British science projects lead the way internationally in tackling global threats such as contamination, famine and emerging issues such as the Zika virus.
The £1.5bn Global Challenges Research Fund will place Britain at the forefront internationally for ground-breaking scientific work, that could save millions of lives.
Universities and Science Minister Jo Johnson said:
"From the invention of the lightbulb to the creation of the World Wide Web, UK scientists have been instrumental in many of the world's most significant discoveries, and we are determined to continue this legacy on a global scale."
"The government is delivering a decade of sustained investment in science, and as long as scientists continue to discover, innovate, and drive economic growth we will continue to stand right behind them."
Here are just a few examples of what UK-funded research has already achieved.....
One of the most devastating animal diseases ever encountered was officially consigned to the history books thanks to UK research.
2010 saw the Global Rinderpest Eradication Programme achieve its objective of eradicating this devastating cattle plague. Over a number of decades, scientists from the Biotechnology and Biological Sciences Research Council - funded Institute for Animal Health (now The Pirbright Institute) developed novel diagnostic tests, trained local people and scientists in Africa and Asia, and advised and monitored the eradication programme.
Eradication of rinderpest is only the second time that a viral disease has been eliminated.
ArmywormsIn December 2012 a serious outbreak of armyworms began rampaging across Zambia, infecting almost 100,000 hectares of agricultural land. As of January 2013, the insects had spread to five other countries. Armyworms can devastate harvests and eat entire crops in a matter of weeks.
In this video diary, Professor Kenneth Wilson of Lancaster University reports on his trip to Zambia to meet the country's Vice President Dr Guy Scott. Professor Wilson advised him on new research funded by the Biotechnology and Biological Sciences Research Council (BBSRC) which is developing a natural virus that can be produced locally to infect and kill armyworms, so the use of expensive imported chemical pesticides could be reduced or eliminated entirely.Watch the following video to find out more:
CERN
The UK has a world-class particle physics community with 670 UK academics using CERN facilities in 2012 and over 220 UK staff directly employed at CERN; the UK's share of the CERN budget is paid for by the Science and Technology Facilities Council (STFC).
UK scientists helped to analyse and confirm that the particle discovered at CERN in 2012 was indeed the Higgs Boson. The particle was proposed in 1964 by British physicist Professor Peter Higgs to explain why some particles possess mass and others do not.
Technology spin-offs from CERN have a significant direct impact.
From the World Wide Web to touch screen technology, and from developing cures for cancer to cloud computing, spin-offs from CERN touch our lives every day. They also boost the UK's economy to the tune of hundreds of billions of pounds every year.
Cooking with soundAn affordable cooking stove that generates electricity whilst cooking could transform lives in the world's poorest communities.
The innovative stove burns biomass such as wood or dung and converts the heat produced into electricity. Globally, over 2 billion people have no access to electricity. Recent tests showed that a Score (Stove for Cooking, Refrigeration and Electricity) stove could produce enough electricity to power lights and simultaneously charge a mobile phone. The objective is to produce 100W per household. The technology holds huge potential to increase access to electricity and reduce the estimated 8m people who die prematurely each year through household pollution.The EPSRC-funded project is led by the University of Nottingham. Other partners include the University of Manchester, City University London, Queen Mary, University of London and the charity Practical Action.
Elephants stopped from raiding crops by beehive fencing
British-backed researchers have found that fences with beehives discourage African elephants from raiding crop farms – stopping 80 percent of crop raids, reducing human-elephant confrontations and improving food security.
As the elephant population in Africa is increasing following successful conservation efforts, conflicts between humans and elephants are also becoming more common. With lives and livelihoods threatened by elephant crop raids, researchers from the University of Oxford explored alternative deterrents that are affordable and non-violent. Research in Kenya by Professor Fritz Vollrath and Dr Iain Douglas-Hamilton – funded by the ESRC and the Natural Environment Research Council, among others – confirmed local anecdotal evidence that African elephants avoid feeding on acacia trees that hold beehives.
Field trials helped develop a model for building effective beehive fences using inexpensive easily available materials. A study involving 34 farms and 45 attempted crop raids recorded only one elephant incursion in two years.
