robinbisson.bsky.social - Profile | ThreadSky | a Reddit-style client for Bluesky

Huge congrats to @francesjones.bsky.social , who has been shortlisted as Newcomer of the Year in this year's Association of British Science Writers' Awards 🌟 Frances has made a fantastic impact with her reporting since joining @resprofnews.bsky.social - it's wonderful to see that recognised

submitted 4 hours ago • 1 comment

The FT published a piece earlier with an interview with Patrick Vallance including details about plans for 10-year R&D funding On Friday afternoon DSIT sent a press release on 10-year R&D funding...embargoed for Monday 🤷 Do we need to have a recap on how embargoes work?

submitted 22 hours ago • 1 comment

Eye-opening detail in an NAO report on @ukri.org With a 2% budget rise “its existing legal, statutory and political commitments would take up around 98 per cent of its budget in 2025‑26” But it got flat cash And that doesn't include maintaining "similar levels of new curiosity-driven research"

submitted 3 days ago • 1 comment

Latest exclusive on STFC's funding troubles from @francesjones.bsky.social Astronomy grant schemes have been delayed or suspended this year @robertmassey.bsky.social says the move will have immediate consequences for hiring postdoctoral researchers www.researchprofessionalnews.com/rr-news-uk-r...

submitted 3 days ago • 0 comments

UKRI lacks budget for all spending it ‘considers critical’. Maintaining levels of doctoral students and curiosity-driven research would take funder over budget this year. www.researchprofessionalnews.com/rr-news-uk-r...

submitted 4 days ago • 0 comments

Sally Mapstone, president of Universities UK, tells @fionamcintyre.bsky.social she takes issue with ministers suggesting "universities are piling international students high and that it’s their fault if, having been over optimistic about admissions, they’ve then seen a decline in student numbers"

submitted 4 days ago • 0 comments

Quite possibly the biggest climate story of the year (especially when we look back on this in a few years' time) For the first time on record, China's emissions are falling due to clean energy growth, not slow power demand...

submitted 4 days ago • 11 comments

Hey look! It's @resprofnews.bsky.social's first @theguardian.com front page A little unfortunate their exclusive analysis of Peter Kyle's meetings came a month after our story

submitted 4 days ago • 0 comments

Great to see the Guardian follow up @annamckie.bsky.social's article of 17 April on Peter Kyle's tech sector meetings in his first 6 months with their own exclusive on the topic www.researchprofessionalnews.com/rr-news-uk-p...

submitted 4 days ago • 0 comments

Patrick Vallance has given more detail on the foreign talent schemes the science department is lining up "We are working on schemes to make attractive offers both to individuals and to groups" Announcement coming "very shortly" he said

submitted 5 days ago • 0 comments

Dsit has now confirmed setting “stretching and measurable new organisational objectives” for UKRI which will “set clear expectations around organisational effectiveness and building a pro-innovation culture” It said the objectives will be part of a summer refresh of UKRI’s 2018 framework document

submitted 5 days ago • 0 comments

The National Audit Office says @ukri.org lacks "specific, measurable or time-bound" objectives...but that's because ministers haven't given it any DSIT and the Treasury are undertaking a "major prioritisation exercise" with UKRI, the NAO says, and it will be given new objectives in summer (Free)

submitted 5 days ago • 2 comments

The slashing of aid funding in 2021 caused major damage to research partnerships with developing countries, catching ministers unawares This time round “the government has been pretty clear that it does not want to repeat the exercise" says @christophersmith.bsky.social, UKRI's international lead

submitted 5 days ago • 0 comments

The govt said it wants to make it easier for the UK to attract top scientists. There wasn't much detail in the immigration white paper, but plenty on reducing overall migration Policy experts warn the rhetoric could put off scientists, even if some barriers come down By @sophieatrpn.bsky.social

submitted 5 days ago • 0 comments

There's been a relatively hopeful trend for uni finances in number of student visa applications - steady 5-month improvement after last year's crash Big qu today is what the immigration white paper will do to this trend www.researchprofessionalnews.com/rr-news-uk-u...

submitted 7 days ago • 1 comment

Piece wasn't paywalled last night but is now Readable here: web.archive.org/web/20250511...

submitted 8 days ago • 1 comment

Jacqui Smith's argument in the headline here would hold more water if tuition fees didn't make up 93% of university teaching income

submitted 8 days ago • 3 comments

Lot of trepidation ahead of immigration white paper "We are concerned that the consequences of a more restrictive immigration policy for skilled workers and international students would pose a risk to the UK’s world-leading R&D status and uni financial stability" (via @sciencecampaign.bsky.social)

submitted 10 days ago • 0 comments

After the NIH said it would clamp down on awards to foreign researchers, an agency insider told @sophieatrpn.bsky.social: “I think scientists will definitely leave the US” “It destroys our reputation in global science…Never in my wildest dreams would I have imagined we would be here”

submitted 10 days ago • 1 comment

The science dept told me it will indeed be announcing a scheme to attract foreign research teams (read top US scientists), as reported by FT, but not before the immigration white paper

submitted 10 days ago • 1 comment

All this week, we are reporting from #INORMS2025. If you are there, lucky you! If not, you can follow all of our reporting, free to read, on our INORMS page. Check it out: www.researchprofessionalnews.com/category/ino...

submitted 11 days ago • 0 comments

Abrupt shift on foreign awards ‘destroys NIH reputation’. Termination of grant applications with foreign collaborators will “destroy” reputation of US National Institutes of Health among scientists, says insider. @sophieatrpn.bsky.social reports. www.researchprofessionalnews.com/rr-news-usa-...

submitted 11 days ago • 0 comments

Big news: Dsit confirms UK scheme for foreign research talent. The science department has confirmed it will launch a funding scheme designed to attract foreign researchers, as calls grow for the UK to do more to recruit disaffected US scientists. www.researchprofessionalnews.com/rr-news-uk-p...

submitted 11 days ago • 2 comments

Now updated with a response from DSIT who, unsurprisingly, took issue with the take on RIO's progress

submitted 11 days ago • 0 comments

DSIT's new body for accelerating new tech gets short shrift from @droojb.bsky.social "The Regulatory Innovation Office already appears dead on arrival, with no authority, money or power to influence departments or regulators" With govt promising to axe redundant quangos, could it be for the chop?

submitted 11 days ago • 0 comments

A grim stat - 79% of unis may cut research over next 3 years That's more than twice the figure recorded last year. The number having actually made cuts in last year is up by a third No wonder Research England is worried unis may not use all their QR funds @chrisjparr.bsky.social reports

submitted 12 days ago • 0 comments

Changes to student visas, and the graduate route, looking pretty nailed on after Reform's surge in the locals @heather-rolfe.bsky.social says targeting student visas to crackdown on asylum claims is "the wrong way to go about dealing with that particular issue" @annamckie.bsky.social reports

submitted 12 days ago • 1 comment

🎉Great news!🎉 We have 5 shortlistings in the 2025 @thebsme.bsky.social Talent Awards! Congrats to the UK news team, @robinbisson.bsky.social, @fionamcintyre.bsky.social, @harrietswain.bsky.social and @johnmorgan3.bsky.social. Read all about it: www.researchprofessionalnews.com/rr-news-uk-c...

submitted 17 days ago • 0 comments

The UK's Science and Technology Facilities Council has written to several project leaders saying they will not receive renewed funding, amid a financial hole at the council - exclusive from @francesjones.bsky.social (£) www.researchprofessionalnews.com/rr-news-uk-r...

submitted 19 days ago • 0 comments

On the Today prog on Radio 4 this morning, former Labour education secretary Alan Milburn said if the government "make the mistake of believing that the way to solve the migration problem is to ruin our universities and close some of them...they would be making a very big mistake"

submitted 18 days ago • 1 comment

Scorn being poured on Labour MP Jonathan Hinder's comments that the UK shouldn't have "anywhere near as many universities", seemingly based on concerns about migration @andywestwood.bsky.social called them "very obviously wrong", while Nick Hillman of @hepi-news.bsky.social branded them "silly"

submitted 18 days ago • 0 comments

Strong words from @viviennestern.bsky.social “For God’s sake, index link [tuition fees], because if you just let them drive into the sand, then…it’s all going to end in disaster” Plus quite a slap down of the idea that a graduate levy could fix university finances Via @chrisjparr.bsky.social

submitted 18 days ago • 0 comments

“I think that we have half an immigration policy. We have the half that regulates entry to the country, but we don’t have the other half that goes out into the world and tries to attract talented people to pursue research and innovation careers in the UK,” says @graemetr.bsky.social

submitted 18 days ago • 1 comment

A delicious irony that the cabinet office has missed its deadline for releasing stats on FOI requests, which should give info on how many FOI requests were responded to on deadline 🙄

submitted 19 days ago • 0 comments

Keeping university spinouts from moving abroad for finance has preoccupied successive science ministers “Acquisition isn’t always bad, but we want that ambition to stay in the cluster, and in the UK” said @kathmackay.bsky.social of Bruntwood SciTech, the UK’s biggest property company for the sector

submitted 19 days ago • 0 comments

The next spending review is just 6 weeks away, and all the signs point towards R&D funding being geared more closely to the government's missions (growth, mainly) On Monday, @russellgroup.bsky.social urged "that applied research is not prioritised at the expense of basic research"

submitted 19 days ago • 0 comments