Brit universities told to keep up the world-class research with less cash

Government boasts of £14B in R&D spending, but grant body takes £300M hit

Despite ambitions to position itself as a science and tech superpower, the UK has cut the budget for the government body responsible for university research funding.

As the Department for Science, Innovation and Technology (DSIT) announced nearly £14 billion ($18 billion) of R&D funding for sciences, green energy, and space "to improve lives and grow the economy," figures in its 2025-26 budget allocation reveal a slash in funding for UK Research and Innovation (UKRI), which hands out research grants to universities in England.

Launched in April 2018 and sponsored by DSIT, UKRI had a budget of £9.13 billion ($11.87 billion) in 2024-25. It is made up of the seven disciplinary research councils, Research England, which supports research and knowledge exchange at higher education institutions, and the UK's innovation agency, Innovate UK. It funds and supports all academic disciplines and industrial areas including medical and biological sciences, astronomy, physics, chemistry and engineering, social sciences, economics, environmental sciences, and the arts and humanities.

But that didn't stop DSIT from cutting its budget. It announced a £300 million ($390 million) drop in allocation for 2025-26, down to £8.81 billion ($11.44 billion). The figure includes the UK's contribution toward, or spending associated with, EU programs including Horizon Europe, Copernicus, and Horizon Europe Guarantee costs, all of which the UK rejoined following a period of Brexit-related uncertainty.

Nonetheless, UKRI CEO Professor Dame Ottoline Leyser put a brave face on the situation in her prepared statement.

"This allocation safeguards the capability of the UK's world-class research and innovation ecosystem," she said. "UKRI will use its unique position in the research and innovation system to make smart and strategic investment choices, delivering the best outcomes now and in the future, and making the most effective use of public money."

In an interview with The Register last year, UK science and technology minister Peter Kyle said the government's Investment Summit – which included commitments from the private sector – raised £63 billion ($82 billion) worth of pledged investment into the UK, £24.3 billion ($31.5 billion) of that was directly AI-related. ®