Blog: Supporting the research sector in response to COVID-19

23rd Jul 2020

Last month we wrote to the UK Government’s Science Minister on the impact that the Coronavirus has had on UK neuroscience, for instance that large numbers of researchers could leave neuroscience altogether. 

We have since received a response from the Science Minister outlining measures her department are taking to mitigate the impact of Coronavirus.  Here, Joseph Clift (BNA Head of Policy and Campaigns) examines the contents of her response, and puts it in context of several important announcements aimed at supporting the research base.

Since we wrote to the Science Minister last month, we’ve seen several important announcements aimed at supporting the UK’s research base – both in response to current funding shortfalls, and with an eye on future years of funding.

Government responses

On 27 June, the Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy (BEIS) announced a University research support package, making around £280m available to provide funded extensions to UKRI-funded projects. The funding includes support for researchers’ salaries and other research costs, such as laboratory equipment and fieldwork. This is a much-needed boost to neuroscience projects funded by research councils that have been affected the last few months, and provides the support the BNA had requested research councils provide when we wrote to them in April.   

This was followed a few days later by BEIS announcing a UK Research and Development Roadmap, which is exploring how the UK Government can meet its commitment to increase public R&D funding to £22bn per year by 2024/25 – from providing “long-term flexible investment into infrastructure and institutions” to looking at ways to better “fund and assess discovery and applied research.” Part of the latter will involve creating a new independent funding body, modelled on the Advanced Research Projects Agency in the US, which could provide new funding opportunities for neuroscientists working in potentially transformational areas of research.

We have also made enquiries in the devolved nations on how devolved governments have responded to the need for additional support to researchers impacted by the pause to their work. Within Scotland, for example, the Scottish Government has indicated it is providing funded and no-cost extensions for research projects funded by the Chief Scientist Office.  

While the announcements above are welcome, they only go part of the way towards helping researchers that had to stop vital research, and who need not only help to restore that work but also provide reassurance that there will continue to be funding opportunities in the years to come.

Challenges for research charities

In the response that we received to our letter last month, UK Science Minister Amanda Solloway highlighted that in addition to the above research-active universities will be able to also use a system of loans and grants from the autumn to “cover up to 80% of their income losses caused by any actual decline in international students, capped at their level of non-publicly funded research.”

However, universities’ future level of non-publicly funded research is itself facing its challenges.

This is highlighted by the Association of Medical Research Charities, whose members estimate a £252-£368 million shortfall in their collective research spend over the next year due to the COVID-19 pandemic – an average 41% decrease for each charity. With a number of charity funders playing a vital role in funding neuroscience research, this would have a major impact on upcoming funding opportunities within neuroscience. Charities are calling for a Life Sciences-Charity Partnership to help bridge the gap in funding and enable them to maintain research funding as planned for the next three years.

Support for neuroscience research

Some of the most concerning findings from our recent survey of researchers were around their outlook on the immediate future – over half not expecting to be able to start any new research projects until next year at the earliest, and nearly a third considering leaving neuroscience research. We will continue to make the case for additional support for UK neuroscience so that researchers have confidence that the UK continues to offer opportunities and support for neuroscience research. This includes helping to restore research paused by the pandemic, and ensuring that across the UK there continues to be funding streams that neuroscientists can access.

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Impact of COVID-19 on charities funding neuroscience research

The Association of Medical Research Charities (AMRC) has compiled a really helpful resource on the response of the charity sector to researchers impacted by COVID-19 restrictions and key guidance on funding. We have reproduced this in the table below for organisations funding neuroscience research – please visit the AMRC page for the most up-to-date information. 

Please note: information sourced from AMRC and correct at time of this blog

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