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The balance of R&D and innovation funding

UK Research & Innovation (UKRI) is working with the Government to develop a plan for how best to meet the Government’s target for the UK to increase investment in research and development (R&D) to 2.4% of GDP by 2027, and by 3% in the future. UKRI is also examining “what constitutes reasonable balance” of R&D funding. Against this background, the Science and Technology Committee has launched an inquiry on the ‘balance and effectiveness of research and innovation spending’.

Read the consultation response YU submitted to the House of Commons Science and Technology Select Committee here.

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Does Yorkshire get a fair deal from the Treasury?

Dr Peter O’Brien, Executive Director

On Tuesday, most children, including my two daughters, went back to school following the summer holidays. The same day, I was at Westminster, where a new term had started for parliamentarians about to embark upon one of the most crucial periods in the UK’s recent history, as the county leaves the European Union at the end of March 2019.

I was in London to attend a meeting of the All Party Parliamentary Group (APPG) for Yorkshire and North Lincolnshire, which had been called to discuss the balance of public investment made by central government in Yorkshire, compared to the rest of the country, and in particular London, and whether Yorkshire receives a ‘fair deal’ from the Treasury.

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‘Universities, Place and the Industrial Strategy’

Dr Peter O’Brien, Executive Director

Recently, YU held a roundtable in Leeds with Universities UK (UUK), which brought together universities, local enterprise partnerships (LEPs), combined authorities, government and national research funding agencies. The purpose was to share information about the development of local industrial strategies in Yorkshire, to illustrate the specific role of the twelve universities in Yorkshire in industrial policy and strategy, and to identify areas of shared interest. UUK had organised eight similar-type events with universities across England, but the session in Leeds was the only one held jointly with a ‘place-based’ collaborative university organisation. 

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YU appoints new Chair of Board of Directors

Yorkshire Universities (YU) has announced that Professor Sir Chris Husbands, Vice-Chancellor of Sheffield Hallam University, will take over from Professor Koen Lamberts, Vice-Chancellor of the University of York, as Chair of the YU Board of Directors from 1 August 2018.

YU has agreed a new strategy that will see the regional partnership focus on widening and deepening the role of Yorkshire’s universities in place-based development, including national and local industrial policy. Sir Chris Husbands’ responsibilities as Chair will include steering YU’s relationships with national and regional government, business and public sector partners.

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