Private centre gains right to bid for public research funding

A private research centre has become the first of its kind to be awarded independent research organisation status.

Thanks to its new status, the London Institute for Mathematical Sciences will be able to compete with universities for funding from the umbrella funding body UK Research and Innovation (UKRI). It is the first private research centre in the physical sciences to be able to do so.

John Beddington, former chief scientific adviser to the government and a trustee of the institute, said in a statement on 4 April that allowing private research centres to compete for state funding would “bring diversification and healthy competition to the research sector”.