BU Research Blog

Yesterday, the RCUK launched reports detailing the impacts of a collective investment of £3.4Bn in 2015/16.  These impact reports showcase specific examples of the impact of investment through their various awards, programmes and collaborations. The wide-ranging nature of the impact extends from furthering technological advances to combatting disease to breakthroughs in the creative economy.  Click here for an overview.

Links to Impact Reports are available below:

• Arts & Humanities Research Council (AHRC) 
• Biotechnology & Biological Sciences Research Council (BBSRC)
• Economic & Social Research Council (ESRC)
• Engineering & Physical Sciences Research Council (EPSRC) 
• Medical Research Council (MRC)
• Natural Environment Research Council (NERC)
• Science & Technology Facilities Council (STFC)

Impact – in numbers

• Growth, productivity and job creation
• 93% of Research Council funded PhD graduates are employed 6 months after graduation
• 17,435 current doctoral students
• 57 spin out companies and 182 instances of IP in 2015
• 30% of academics interact with private business
• £229M additional funding leveraged from external partners
• 17% rate of return on public investment in medical research (See MRC impact report)
• 3202 instances of new collaborations reported in researchfish® in 2015/16 across all Research Councils
• More than 50% of PhD graduates work outside academia 7-9 years after graduation – CFE Research (2014)

Global impacts

• 5231 partners in 88 countries
• UK ranks first for citation impact – Elsevier (2013): International Comparative Performance of the UK Research Base – 2013.
• UK ranks 3rd in Global Innovation Index
• The Research Councils play a pivotal role in addressing all 17 of the UN’s Sustainable Development Goals