Missions-based research policy must build on local knowledge

Regional projects show universities and funding need reorienting, say Rick Delbridge and Kevin Morgan

When the government reopened applications for the next chief executive of UK Research and Innovation last Friday, Labour’s five missions featured in the first paragraph of the job description. In an interview published the same day, science minister Patrick Vallance also mentioned UKRI’s duty to contribute to the missions, which centre on economic growth, clean energy, crime, education and health.

Earlier in August, Jessica Corner, executive chair of Research England and UKRI Champion for Place, wrote that next year’s spending review will be “the first for UKRI that has included formal commitments around place, so we will be preparing an investment strategy for places, which will set out at a high level how UKRI investment will be informed by opportunities in places across the UK”.