Three leading research institutions hit by a loss of charity funding as a result of the COVID-19 pandemic will receive £10 million in additional funding.
The London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine, The Liverpool School of Tropical Medicine and The Institute of Cancer Research, London will all receive a share of the £10 million in funding from Research England’s Specialist Institutions Fund.
The specialist nature of these institutions has left them hit by a loss of charity funding due to the impact of COVID-19. This funding will help them to continue their groundbreaking and lifesaving work, which includes research into cancer and a wide range of the world’s most serious tropical diseases.
Supporting specialist institutions
Research England, part of UK Research and Innovation, has allocated £10 million to these specialist institutions to address a reduction in charity funding caused by the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic. This funding was reallocated from the £80 million Specialist Institution Fund launched by the Chancellor in the 2020 spring budget.
To be eligible to receive this reallocated funding, institutions needed to:
- be specialist institutions
- receive more than 10% of their total income from eligible charity funding
Executive Chair of Research England David Sweeney said,
“These institutions undertake vital research into diseases of global importance, including cancer, COVID-19 and tropical diseases that must continue to be supported to save lives around the world.
“Given the importance of these institutions in tackling research agendas, we have reallocated this funding to ensure these operations are not unduly jeopardized by a reduction in charity funding.”
Further information
The funding will be awarded in proportion to the institutions’ Quality-related Research (QR) charity support funding. It is ‘whole institution’ funding awarded in proportion to the income they receive from charities for research which has been awarded through peer review and open competition.
The specific criteria for a specialist institution, as defined in HEFCE’s 2016 review, are that they concentrate more than 60% of their activity in either: one Higher Education Statistics Agency (HESA) student cost centre or one HESA academic staff cost centre.
Research England shapes healthy, dynamic research and knowledge exchange in English universities. It distributes over £2.2bn to universities in England every year; works to understand their strategies, capabilities and capacity; and supports and challenges universities to create new knowledge, strengthen the economy, and enrich society. Research England is part of UK Research and Innovation alongside the seven Research Councils and Innovate UK. www.ukri.org/re, @ResEngland