Researchers told not to apply for grants with high costs, peers hear

Some universities are telling researchers not to apply for certain grants because it is not possible to recover sufficient costs, University College London’s vice-provost for health has said.

David Lomas, who is also head of UCL’s school of life and medical sciences and a fellow of the Academy of Medical Sciences, said on 11 June that some “major universities”, which he would not name, were “actually stopping academics applying for certain grants because the overheads and the recoveries are not high enough in order to cover the central costs”.

Lomas was speaking at a House of Lords Science and Technology Committee hearing on research funding at universities.