Skidmore ‘determined’ to deliver rise in blue-sky funding

In his first public appearance since his reappointment as science minister, Chris Skidmore has pledged to push for an increase in research council budgets and in funding linked to the Research Excellence Framework.

Speaking at the Universities UK conference in Birmingham, Skidmore told vice-chancellors that he was “determined to see a renewed focus given to basic research”.

“Funding for blue-skies, curiosity-driven research has been dwindling as a proportion of overall spend and this is a problem,” he said.