Multimillion fund to boost science recruitment

The government is to invest £100m into recruiting skilled scientists from around the world.

The Ernest Rutherford Fund will be used to provide fellowships for early career and senior researchers. They will come from not only developed economies but also India, Brazil and Mexico – emerging research powerhouses.

Speaking at the launch event on the 4^th July, Jo Johnson MP, Universities and Science Minister, said: “In her vision for the UK as the go-to place for scientists, innovators and tech investors, the Prime Minister has made clear she wants us to be a country that attracts the brightest and best minds. Rutherford and his immense contributions to science exemplify our vision of a Britain that is open to the best minds and ideas in the world, and stands at the forefront of global collective endeavours to understand, and to improve, the world in which we live.”

Science investment

In last year’s Autumn Statement, the government announced large increases in public R&D totalling almost five billion pounds. This includes an additional two billion pounds a year by 2020-21, an increase of approximately 20% of government spending. A few months ago, in April, Business Secretary Greg Clark announced an Industrial Strategy Challenge Fund (ISCF) to commit more than one billion pounds to research over the next four years.

The ISCF will invest in six key areas including healthcare and medicine, self-driving vehicles and satellites and space technology and is intended to help UK businesses tap into large and growing global markets. The fund is to be administered by Innovate UK and the Research Councils until the new UK Research and Investment body is formed in 2018.

Johnson added: “We look forward to welcoming these talented Rutherford research fellows to the UK. The Rutherford Fund will send a strong signal that, even as we leave the European Union, we are open to the world and will reinforce our ambition of making the UK the go-to country for innovation and discovery.”