UKRI Observatory

Investigating @UKRI_News

[UKRI Observatory @UKRI_info]

We've updated our investigation report. Only around 36% of centres marked "good" in the mid-term review were renewed and individual studentship costs seem to have gone up by over 1/3 in real terms. See: https://t.co/PwgJuqLSQj

[UKRI Observatory @UKRI_info]

@SolGamsu @ProbAtSussex @UWankings @jana_bacevic The problem is that they don't seem to be accepting submissions. But might be worth writing to the members individually instead. Lords can be quite contactable.

[UKRI Observatory @UKRI_info]

@ProfBillCooke @shaunlawson @UWankings It seems like it. The latest is Ukri apparently paid prof Anthony Lilley (@ahrc council member) over £150k bonus money for advice without even having a proper contract in place. See the Ukri foi disclosure log. https://t.co/MVKCOd7csU

[UKRI Observatory @UKRI_info]

@ProfBillCooke @shaunlawson @UWankings Haven't we sort of done that already? From the press coverage we got it seems like they didn't pass. Although their goal might be to be like the ministry of silly walks, in which case they are smashing it by the looks of it.

[UKRI Observatory @UKRI_info]

@UKRI_News now conducting an audit investigation of how @AnthonyLilley was paid over £150k on top of being an @ahrcpress council member to provide "strategic advice". Quite an unfortunate situation, especially at a time of public controversy about senior HE pay.

[UK Research and Innovation @UKRI_News]

@UKRI_info UKRI has considered your request from Jan 10th and our formal response can be found using the following link: https://t.co/6uj4jCSk9h

[UKRI Observatory @UKRI_info]

Very interesting move by @warwickuni. If it works, it will show that UKRI centres might be better operating at a smaller scale. Its also doubtful it will be costing them the £200k per student other places claim.

[Michael Banks @Mike_Banks]

After EPSRC slashed the number of UK centres for doctoral training (https://t.co/W8fDvUGusI), the Univeristy of Warwick has now annouced that it will fund some of its centres that were axed https://t.co/3KHJOTLQMO @UKRI_info

[UKRI Observatory @UKRI_info]

@BMatB @iom3 There is a mistake in this - direct age discrimination can be justified (but on limited grounds: https://t.co/coCJwrOHgr). The question is whether they are enacting 'inter-generational fairness' (and an age of 35 could be legally justifiable for line drawing purposes).

[UKRI Observatory @UKRI_info]

What's interesting is the @EPSRC misinformation quoted, especially theiclaim that "increased PhD fees and stipends for students" are responsible for over a 1/3 cut. The truth is there has been a real terms increase of RCUK fees etc by ~7% (far less than real inflation at 12.5%)

[Physics World @PhysicsWorld]

Almost two-thirds of top performing PhD training centres in the UK face the axe https://t.co/KyCDJqPEGt

[UKRI Observatory @UKRI_info]

@UKRI_tweets We are looking forward to seeing the invoices!

[UKRI Observatory @UKRI_info]

@UKRI_News Many thanks for the update. We look forward to hearing more from you in due course.

[UKRI Observatory @UKRI_info]

A potentially problematic case. We would make an FOI request of our own @ukri_news. Could you also publish the relevant contracts and invoices, as this seems rather strange. Thanks, UKRI Observatory.

[Chff @dmatix4]

! @UKRI_News This is an FOI request: following the revelation that AHRC council member Anthony Lilley was paid over £50k in a 6 month period by AHRC https://t.co/80gq8xCZyM
Could you disclosed how much money UKRI and its council have paid him & his companies in the last 5 years?

[UKRI Observatory @UKRI_info]

@Ihaveamusic @EPSRC @FusionCDT It depends how someone (it need not be the CDT) chose to challenge it. If someone judicially reviewed the results of the entire competition, then the result could be that @EPSRC must start again and re-run it. However, it is possible to challenge 1 result too and get extra funds.

[UKRI Observatory @UKRI_info]

Interesting approach by @Cambridge_Uni

[Probability@Sussex @ProbAtSussex]

Cambridge implicitly replies to UKRI. University of Cambridge is now down nearly 40% in EPSRC CDT funding according to @UKRI_info. It seems Cambridge can find alternative sources.
https://t.co/BkGz8VRVvf

[UKRI Observatory @UKRI_info]

@lonepair @SuperScienceGrl @EPSRC The first version is already up :-) https://t.co/PwgJuqLSQj We are busy doing some more analysis.

[UKRI Observatory @UKRI_info]

@EPSRC discontinues 2/3 of its "gold standard" Centres for Doctoral Training. Our initial analysis of the results of the CDT competition is here: https://t.co/oM4IW4tJ3X

[UKRI Observatory @UKRI_info]

Our initial analysis paints a somewhat worrying picture. There is a 20% real-terms cut in funding to the CDT program run by EPSRC. On the upshot, there are five newcomer institutions! For more, see https://t.co/oM4IW4tJ3X

[UKRI Observatory @UKRI_info]

@MoatazAttallah Southampton is probably the worst - it had 3 CDT's and is now exiting the club entirely (in terms of leading centres). Not a good performance by Phil Nelson's institution.

[UKRI Observatory @UKRI_info]

@MoatazAttallah Birmingham only got 2 - for a Uni that size, its not good.