UKRI is in the crosshairs, but there’s no sign of an alternative

Culling the mega-funder would not make the system any simpler, says David Walker

Science funding isn’t a science. It isn’t a field where evidence is collected and causal links are sought between institutions and the advance of knowledge, or where theories are developed. 

Ideas abound about the appropriate relationship between the state, scientists and markets, but the literature is sparse; we even lack decent histories. So it’s a field open to chancers such as Dominic Cummings.