Skidmore says R&D target will require research culture overhaul

Call for better working conditions as science minister starts push towards 2.4 per cent research spending target

A radical reform of the UK’s research culture appears to be in the offing after science minister Chris Skidmore outlined how hundreds of thousands of extra researchers will be needed to reach government R&D spending targets.

Skidmore gave the first of four speeches on the government’s plans to increase total R&D spending to 2.4 per cent of GDP by 2027, and 3 per cent in the long term, on 7 May. He told an audience at the London School of Economics and Political Science that the UK would need up to another 260,000 researchers to hit the targets—an increase of around 50 per cent.