{"id":66936,"date":"2016-01-27T21:00:11","date_gmt":"2016-01-27T21:00:11","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/mostafa.openonline.co.uk\/?guid=7c0c2f4ccdb1077fdc5992bd3352efb4"},"modified":"2016-01-27T21:00:11","modified_gmt":"2016-01-27T21:00:11","slug":"press-release-johnson-sets-out-measures-to-make-uk-best-place-in-world-to-do-science","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/mostafa.openonline.co.uk\/?p=66936","title":{"rendered":"Press release: Johnson sets out measures to make UK best place in world to do science"},"content":{"rendered":"<div class=\"govspeak\">\n<p>Delivering the annual <a rel=\"external\" href=\"http:\/\/sciencecampaign.org.uk\/\">Campaign for Science and Engineering<\/a> (<abbr title=\"Campaign for Science and Engineering\">CaSE<\/abbr>) lecture, he highlighted the importance of the UK\u2019s international research partnerships and the strength of ties with European research partners.<\/p>\n<p>In the <a href=\"https:\/\/www.gov.uk\/government\/speeches\/making-britain-the-best-place-in-the-world-for-science\">speech<\/a>, he announced new funding to put the UK at the forefront of international research and inspire the next generation of world-class scientists. These include:<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>\n<p>doubling the <a rel=\"external\" href=\"http:\/\/www.newtonfund.ac.uk\/about\/\">Newton Fund<\/a> for international research from its current \u00a375 million per year to \u00a3150 million per year by 2021, meaning a total investment of \u00a3735 million from 2014 to 2021. The fund will enable UK scientists to partner with academics and researchers in developing countries and emerging markets to support their economic development and the UK\u2019s research base. <\/p>\n<\/li>\n<li>\n<p>a new government partnership with the Wellcome Trust to deliver the \u00a330 million Inspiring Science Capital Fund (with \u00a320 million from government and \u00a310 million from the Wellcome Trust). Science centres and attractions across the UK will be able to bid into the fund to refresh and refurbish exhibitions and infrastructure to inspire young people from all backgrounds to engage with science and consider a <abbr title=\"Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics\">STEM<\/abbr> career.   <\/p>\n<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>Addressing an audience of 400 scientists and engineers at the prestigious event at the Royal Institution, Jo Johnson said:<\/p>\n<blockquote>\n<p>Our global scientific impact far exceeds our size as a nation, and our scientists and engineers stand tall on the world\u2019s stage.<\/p>\n<p>We want Britain to be the best place in Europe to innovate, and by protecting the science budget we\u2019re giving the clearest signal that science and innovation sit at the very heart of this government\u2019s economic plan.<\/p>\n<p class=\"last-child\">Extending the Newton Fund provides a unique opportunity for UK academics to work with partners around the world to address some of the biggest challenges of our time.<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n<h2 id=\"best-in-europe-best-in-the-world\">Best in Europe, Best in the World<\/h2>\n<p>In his speech, Jo Johnson highlighted the strength of the UK\u2019s research partnerships with Europe and the rest of the world. He said that around half of all UK research publications now involve international collaborations, and European countries provide some of the UK\u2019s closest research ties.<\/p>\n<p>Mr Johnson said:<\/p>\n<blockquote>\n<p class=\"last-child\">Because of the excellence of our research base, it is no surprise that the UK is one of the most successful players in <abbr title=\"European Union\">EU<\/abbr> research programmes.<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n<p>The UK received \u20ac7 billion under the last Framework Programme (2007 to 2013). That made the UK one of the largest beneficiaries of <abbr title=\"European Union\">EU<\/abbr> research funding. In the current funding round, <a href=\"https:\/\/www.gov.uk\/horizon-2020\">Horizon 2020<\/a>, the UK has secured 15.4% of funds, behind only Germany on 16.5%, and with the second largest number of participating organisations.<\/p>\n<h2 id=\"global-challenges\">Global challenges<\/h2>\n<p>The Newton Fund supports British academic collaboration with international partners aimed at extending the reach of the UK\u2019s research base and forging links with developing countries that have strong scientific ambitions. Established in 2014, 181 programmes have already been supported through the Newton Fund, from tackling the impact of climate change on rice production in Vietnam to reducing Malaria cases in Colombia. Projects are co-funded by the partner country, helping to unlock further investment.  <\/p>\n<p>The Newton Fund complements the \u00a31.5 billion Global Challenges Research Fund, announced at the Spending Review, which presents an opportunity to deploy the UK\u2019s world-class research capability to address the challenges facing the developing world.<\/p>\n<h2 id=\"inspiring-the-next-generation-of-scientists-and-engineers\">Inspiring the next generation of scientists and engineers<\/h2>\n<p>In his speech, the minister set out the importance of inspiring the next generation of scientists. He announced a new \u00a330 million Inspiring Science Capital Fund \u2013 \u00a320 million from government and \u00a310 million from the Wellcome Trust \u2013 which will support the UK\u2019s science centres and attractions, offering schools and families hands-on experiences of science and engineering by bringing ideas, research and inventions to life.<\/p>\n<p>The Inspiring Science Capital Fund will enable Science Centres and other attractions to grow their <abbr title=\"Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics\">STEM<\/abbr> outreach activities through the creation of new exhibitions, as well as science laboratory and education spaces to better accommodate schools and visiting groups. Applicants will need to demonstrate how the funding would help them to engage underserved and underrepresented audiences. <\/p>\n<p>The government has already established several <abbr title=\"Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics\">STEM<\/abbr> initiatives to encourage more young people into relevant careers, including 31,000 <abbr title=\"Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics\">STEM<\/abbr> Ambassadors from science and academia across the UK (including Britain\u2019s first astronaut Tim Peake), and the National Science and Engineering competition.<\/p>\n<h2 id=\"science-budget-allocations\">Science budget allocations<\/h2>\n<p>In the recent Spending Review the government committed to protecting science resource funding in real terms from its current level of \u00a34.7 billion a year for the rest of the parliament. It also committed to invest in new scientific infrastructure on a record scale \u2013 delivering \u00a36.9 billion, meaning a total investment of \u00a330.4 billion in science to 2019 to 2020.  <\/p>\n<p>Jo Johnson indicated in his speech that allocations for the Research Councils will be made next month and invited the whole research community to engage with Research Council and Innovate UK as they develop their delivery plans. <\/p>\n<h3 id=\"notes-to-editors\">Notes to editors:<\/h3>\n<p>Jo Johnson delivered the <abbr title=\"Campaign for Science and Engineering\">CaSE<\/abbr> annual lecture, <a href=\"https:\/\/www.gov.uk\/government\/speeches\/making-britain-the-best-place-in-the-world-for-science\">\u201cMaking Britain the best place in the world for science\u201d<\/a> on Wednesday 27 January 2016. The speech will be available on Thursday 28 January 2016.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Minister for Universities and Science, Jo Johnson, sets out his vision to ensure the UK remains a global leader in science and engineering.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":8,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[13],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/mostafa.openonline.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/66936"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/mostafa.openonline.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/mostafa.openonline.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mostafa.openonline.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/8"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mostafa.openonline.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=66936"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/mostafa.openonline.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/66936\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/mostafa.openonline.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=66936"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mostafa.openonline.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=66936"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mostafa.openonline.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=66936"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}