This blog was written by Dr Christopher Daley, Research Development Manager, and Dr Matthew Smith, Senior Lecturer in Public Humanities, at Royal Holloway, University of London. The authors are on Twitter @cr_daley and @MattSmithRHUL.
Plans by the UK Government to invest 2.4 per cent of GDP into research and development (R&D) by 2027 is, on the surface, of benefit to all academic disciplines. There is a general expectation that UKRI’s anticipated 14 per cent budget increase by 2024-25 will translate into some form of economic growth for all Research Councils. However, this cautious optimism around overall financial investment in R&D is set against a more anxious environment for arts and humanities researchers who have seen their disciplines dragged into culture war narratives, derided in debates about ‘low value’ degrees, and seemingly ignored in R&D rhetoric, with its emphasis on the UK becoming a ‘science superpower’.
