Update from Research England on recurrent RKE grant funding

Research news

We have been waiting for news from Research England about the recurrent RKE grants for this year, confirmation of which has been delayed whilst UKRI waited for BEIS to confirm their budget. There was some initial news yesterday, which is summarised below. Institutional allocations will be published next month but overall there’s an increase in funding available, so hopefully we’ll secure more funding than last year 🤞

Research England letter sent to all VCs today: https://re.ukri.org/sector-guidance/publications/circular-letter-funding-for-2021-22/

  • Applies to 2021/22 academic year grants (e.g. QR & HEIF) and 2021/22 financial year grants (such as research capital funding).
  • Institutional allocations will be published in October 2021.
  • Overall funding increase of 3.5%.
  • Overall budget lines for block grant funding will remain the same (e.g. same amount in the overall QR pot this year compared to last year), although this may vary at institution level.
  • There will be QR SPF available in 2021/22 – note it is now renamed as QR Policy Support Fund. The funding aim is to invest in new interdisciplinary programmes and to help solve pressing public policy challenges.
  • HEIF funding parameters remain the same but the year-on-year increase has decreased to +10% (from +15%).
  • There is £132M of additional funds that will be allocated to strengthen the capacity and capability of institutions to work in partnership with others to deliver post-Covid societal and economic benefits. They will also allow providers to commence work on post-Covid considerations around research culture and the research system. Paragraph 19 outlines these additional single year grants. Note these must be spent between 1 April 2021 and 31 March 2022. It looks like these will be allocated to institutions (i.e. no competition).
  • Last month, Research England published a guide on how they fund universities. It explains the formulae used, for example, for QR and HEIF. Definitely worth a read: RE-06082021-RE-How-we-fund-HEPs-FINAL.pdf (ukri.org).

 

BEIS advice to UKRI re: priorities and budget allocations: https://re.ukri.org/documents/2021/guidance-from-beis-for-research-england-financial-year-2021-22/.

  • This is useful and informative as it sets out what Government expects from UKRI and therefore universities.

 

If you have any questions, send me an email at jnortham@bournemouth.ac.uk.

Related Posts