UKRI should ‘defend research councils from government’

Paul Nurse says agency should be a “buffer” to “restrictive rules” emanating from the Treasury

The senior figure behind the creation of UK Research and Innovation has said the national funding agency should “defend research councils” from restrictive government rules.

Paul Nurse, the director of the Francis Crick Institute, said he sees UKRI as a “buffer… protecting science, and also ensuring that it is properly delivered, rather than trying to deliver it all itself”.