20/05/09 Research Fortnight - News

Haldane principle intact, says next RCUK chairman

Research council autonomy maintained in Budget process

Colin Macilwain

The priorities identified for the research councils in last month's Budget were set by the research councils themselves, and are fully consistent with the Haldane principle, the chairman-elect of Research Councils UK has said.

Alan Thorpe, chief executive of the Natural Environment Research Council, said in an interview that these priorities—for cross-cutting programmes on food security, the digital economy and fostering economic recovery—were set by the heads of the research councils in the first place.

The Haldane principle, first expressed in a report written by Richard Haldane after the first world war, holds that research funds should not be subject to direct political control but should instead be allocated by councils of researchers, and is often regarded as the bedrock of British science policy.

Thorpe was responding to concerns voiced by critics such as Martin Taylor, vice-president of the Royal Society, who wrote in Research Fortnight two weeks ago that the transfer of £106 million to pay for these areas. Nick Dusic, director of the Campaign for Science and Engineering, has said that the provision `completely destroys the idea that the research councils operate at arm's length.

We don't feel that that kind of criticism is valid' says Thorpe. `The cross-cutting programmes have been demanded by the research councils, not by the government.' He adds that the priorities articulated in the Budget are fully in line with what the heads of the research councils announced on 6 April, when they responded to science minister Paul Drayson's request for input to the Budget process.

In an extensive interview with Research Fortnight, Thorpe also rebutted associated criticism from George Monbiot of The Guardian, who wrote a scathing column on 12 May asserting that the research councils, including NERC—which is chaired by Edmund Wallis of construction company WS Atkins—are in the pockets of big business.

Thorpe responds: `First of all, the chief executives of the research councils are researchers—and they have a significant role in running the research councils. Our non-executive chairs have been drawn from people who run big organisations. There is a good balance on the councils of scientists and other stakeholders; I don't think it is inappropriate.'

In the interview, Thorpe also said that

-Research council heads have already started discussions with shadow ministers to prepare the ground for any change of government

-`Researchers won't notice a big change' when research council staff are reallocated to a new shared-service centre later this year

-His second four-year term at NERC, which began last month, will be `quite different' in complexion from his first term, due to the harsher economic climate.

I've talked to shadow ministers', Thorpe says. `I initiated some of these talks and plan to continue with that.' Asked if a Tory government might be less sympathetic to NERC's environmental mission, he says: `Whether it is a Labour government or a Conservative one, we will have to make the case for environmental research. And I think the case for it can be well made, not only that the environment is under pressure, but that knowledge generated by such research can provide economic opportunities.' He cites the ozone hole, and subsequent actions taken to address it by slashing emissions of chlorofluorocarbon compounds, as an example of such opportunities.

Thorpe was elected last November as chairman of RCUK—the umbrella group for the seven UK research councils. He begin his term this October, when Ian Diamond, the chief executive of the Economic and Social Research Council and current RCUK chairman, steps down from the role.

Thorpe thinks that the current RCUK arrangement, whereby the seven research council heads meet monthly for two or three hours, is working well—especially in the way it gives the councils a single point of contact for their interaction with the Department for Innovation, Universities and Skills. `There's no doubt we're looking for more opportunities to work together' he says, citing external communications as an area that `we are increasingly trying to draw together under the RCUK umbrella'

Around 100 staff from NERC alone, meanwhile, are about to be transferred to the new shared services centre, probably in November—but Thorpe denies that this will diminish the council's autonomy. `Researchers won't notice a big change' he predicts. `Applicants for large grants often talk to our scientific managers, and that sort of conversation will still be there.'

He contends that the co-ordination work of RCUK, together with the shared services centre, will allow each research council to retain its own scientific focus and offers them `the best of both worlds'.

As for NERC's share of the £106m, which will amount to about 3 per cent of its budget, Thorpe says it will be taken mainly from multiyear projects that are expiring anyway, and from efficiency savings from things like research ships. `This is not money that is being lost' he says. `It is actually going to be spent on research'.

Thorpe adds that for his second and final term as chief executive of NERC, his main goal is to `take the collaborative element of our work to the next level' in line with Next Generation Science for Planet Earth, the five-year strategy document that the council published in 2007.

A prominent recent example of this collaborative approach, the Living with Environmental Change programme, is already proving effective in building partnerships between different government agencies, Thorpe says, noting that the ESRC has just started a project to assess it as a model for supporting interdisciplinary research.

NERC is also seeking to broaden its international partnerships, he says, reaching an agreement with Canada on polar research, which he cites as `an example of how we're trying to up our game'. Later this month, Thorpe will be in Washington DC to meet Tim Killeen, head of the geosciences directorate at the US National Science Foundation, and discuss possible collaborations.