Memorandum 4
Submission from the British Academy
BRITISH ACADEMY
COMMENT ON
CSR 07 ALLOCATIONS
The CSR settlement is a strong result for the
research community, with an outcome in line with the ten-year
policy framework for science and innovations, and at a level distinctly
higher than the average CSR settlement for Government departments.
The British Academy is the national academy
for the humanities and social sciences. Like the two other national
academies, the British Academy receives a Grant-in-Aid through
the science budget, which is used to support research in a way
that complements the Research Councils.
This was the first time that the British Academy
had been through a spending review process under the aegis of
a science ministry (the Academy had previously been funded through
Dfes). The process followed by OSI/DTI and thereafter DIUS was
open and consultative: officials made clear at all stages that
the spending review would be challenging, that it was necessary
to prepare for a range of possible outcomes, including flat-cash,
and that evidence of a thorough examination of priorities would
be necessary.
The British Academy submitted a delivery plan
that was the result of extensive reflection and reprioritisation,
in the light of our own priorities and also the need to adjust
to the "full economic costing" regime. It was targeted
on building research capacity in the humanities and social sciences,
with a clear priority of raising the number of postdoctoral fellowships
awarded—this is our flagship scheme. We also outlined plans
to sustain our other schemes, to extend our international leadership—including
a focus on areas of strategic interest to the UK, like China,
the middle east, Africa and Latin America—and to develop
our work in communications and outreach. We were aware of the
likely impact of FEC commitments on volume of research able to
be supported. We had to address some difficult issues, recognising
that we could not continue to do everything, and to restructure
some of our programmes.
The settlement for the British Academy will
allow us to deliver our identified priorities, and also to take
part, alongside the other national academies and RCUK, in a new
international visiting fellowship scheme. We will be able to expand
our postdoctoral fellowship scheme to 45 awards a year (with a
success rate still well below 10%, it should be noted) and to
sustain our other activities. We will be able to meet our FEC
obligations, although there is pressure on some of our ambitions
in the international area and there will be tighter success rates
in some schemes. Like other bodies in receipt of public funds
we are required to make savings in operating costs, which is particularly
challenging for a small organisation like the Academy. We would
of course always welcome more funds, but overall we see it as
a good settlement for our share of support for the humanities
and social sciences.
We are aware that other research funding bodies
with an interest in the humanities and social sciences have had
to deal with challenges similar to those faced by the British
Academy, thinking through their priorities and seeking to balance
FEC and research volume. The Research Councils in our disciplines
received their share of the settlement. We have recently seen
announcements by AHRC of changes in the number of studentship
places offered and success rates on grants. We would be concerned
about a sustained reduction in the number of PhD studentships
in the humanities, since this is the principal entree to those
disciplines (we are particularly interested in levels of response-mode
provision). We understand however that numbers can be expected
to stabilise at close to traditional levels.
February 2008
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