Frances Buck, Director of Researchfish, responds to Science and Universities Minister David Willetts’ announcement of £85 million for research in new technologies

“Today’s announcement demonstrates the Government’s commitment to promoting scientific research - a crucial priority for securing the UK’s high-tech future.

“At the same time, in the context of increasingly tight and competing budgets, the pressure for accountability in research continues to grow.  Robust online outcomes systems are helping to consistently and comprehensively track a broad range of research outputs - directly demonstrating value for money and saving crucial time on reporting so greater focus can be placed on actual research.  Encouragingly, the Researchfish project, which fulfils this role, is quickly snowballing, with 19 funding organisations signed up (including the Science and Technology Facilities Council and the Medical Research Council), soon to grow to 60 following a recent AMRC/MRC collaboration.  Additionally twelve universities and over 6,500 researchers and delegates are part of the community, with around £4 billion in research funding now being tracked.

“Ring-fencing the science budget is vital for securing international business interest in UK research and development going forward.  With effective monitoring of the outcomes of this research, we can further link up the UK’s scientific community with pioneers and funders on a global level, opening new horizons for intellectual collaboration and positioning the country at the forefront of scientific innovation in the future.”

About Researchfish

Researchfish is an online research outcomes system that enables research funders to track the impacts of their investments, and researchers (PIs) to easily log the outcomes of their work. The system was developed from the MRC’s e-Val software. It currently tracks around £4 billion in research funding and membership includes 19 funding organisations (soon to grow to 60 following a recent AMRC/MRC collaboration), 12 universities and over 6,500 researchers. Current funding organisations using Researchfish include the Science and Technology Facilities Council, the British Heart Foundation and Parkinson’s UK

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