Opinion: Levelling up research funding requires a fine balance

Policy should focus more on research's benefits to a region than on where it is conducted, say Sarah Chaytor, Grace Gottlieb and Graeme Reid (all UCL Office of the Vice Provost: Research, Innovation & Global Engagement). Levelling up may be the big political idea of the day, but it is by no means the first attempt by government to address regional inequalities in the UK. As the 2070 Commission into regional equality has observed, while initiatives have come and gone, the inequalities remain stubbornly in place. The question is whether this time will be any different - and what role R&D can and should play in an effective strategy. The government's Research and Development Roadmap, published last July, has emphasised the role of research in levelling up, with a subsequent R&D place strategy promised later this year. We suggest there remain several unanswered questions that will be critical to the success of that strategy and future regional R&D initiatives. What is the purpose of a "place" strategy for R&D and how will we know if it has been successful? What is the optimal distribution of research funding, according to what metric, and at what level of granularity? What are the different local constraints in translating research and how can these be tackled? And how can local strengths, opportunities and capacity be put to best use? In a report published by the Higher Education Policy Institute, we examine some of the evidence that underlies assumptions about the regional spread of research funding.