UK should align its research system with those of emerging economies to keep in the picture

To continue to have a global impact, the UK should gear its research system to match those of emerging economies, Labour peer and chairman of Warwick Manufacturing Group, Kumar Bhattacharyya told the Research Fortnight event Globalisation: The future of research institutions.

Speaking on 9 November, Bhattacharyya said the UK’s strengths do not match those of the most rapidly expanding research economies. “Britain’s greatest research strengths are in the humanities and the social sciences,” he said. “But on the other side of the ledger, in China, the strongest research subjects are in engineering and physical sciences. India’s strengths lie in physical and environmental sciences, Brazil’s in health and biology and Russia’s in mathematics and physics.”