Skip to main content
Premium Trial:

Request an Annual Quote

Few Extra in Funding

The UK Chancellor of the Exchequer George Osborne presented his budget yesterday, and ScienceInsider says it includes more funds for research.

Though the science budget is planned over five years, ScienceInsider notes, the new budget includes some extra tidbits.

For instance, these new funds of £240 million are to go toward health data analysis (£20 million), a new energy research accelerator (£60 million), and technology incubators in Manchester, Leeds, and Sheffield (£11 million), among others.

The government budget site also notes that it is introducing postgraduate loans of up to £25,000 for PhD and master's research students, and says it will conduct a review to see how the government can better support postgraduate research.

Naomi Weir, acting director of the Campaign for Science and Engineering advocacy group, says the investment in infrastructure is welcome, but that the government also needs to invest in research projects. "It may not make for great headlines in the short-term, but ensuring that there is sufficient funding for the ideas and people that make British science great will be essential for our future scientific, economic, and national success," she says in a statement.