Good news about Kaniskha Narayan. Silver lining for UK tech.

Sunday: an LLM disproves an 87-year-old mathematics conjecture, seemingly on the prompter's whim Monday: the UK govt dept responsible for thinking strategically about AI + research in the round is disbanded, seemingly over a petty civil service turf war. Good one. 🇬🇧🦶🔫

➡️ PLEASE SHARE ➡️ Do you work for an research organisation, or a lab/unit within a larger org, that is doing something different from the mainstream academic model? We would love to hear from you: docs.google.com/forms/d/e/1F...

Reorganising Research: Call for Evidence

Science Works is collaborating with the Wellcome Trust on a joint scoping exercise to uncover examples of labs, departments, institutes, programmes, and funding architectures across the UK research sy...

docs.google.com

Excellent from @johnmorgan3.bsky.social, with typically astute insights from @andywestwood.bsky.social, @ersatzben.com and @richardaljones.bsky.social.

Research Professional News@resprofnews.bsky.social · last mo.

Analysis: Could Andy Burnham deploy R&D ‘Manchesterism’ across the UK? Starmer resignation spotlights ministers’ futures and potential for R&D funding devolution under a Burnham premiership. www.researchprofessionalnews.com/rr-news-uk-p...

“Manchesterism” is going national. What might a Burnham premiership mean for science? Devolved R&D? There are opportunities & risks. We’ve been thinking about this at @science.works – here’s a taster of our thinking… 🧵

Passing on a chuckle from my morning. The @ukri.org main office is in Swindon. Their new buckets system was introduced late 2025. There is an Indie Band formed in 2025 from Swindon called..... Bucket Fight! www.swindonadvertiser.co.uk/news/2621200...

Two indie rock bands to bring 'epic' live show to Swindon pub

Foot-stomping indie rock comes to The Victoria with The Pavilion & Bucket Fight

swindonadvertiser.co.uk

Announcement: am launching @science.works -- a new org to accelerate UK R&D. A post to explain why I think a new org is needed: www.ersatzben.com/p/introducin... £3k essay prize and call for evidence open now at science.works

Introducing Science Works

Why I think a new organisation is needed to tackle the most pressing challenges facing British science and tech

ersatzben.com

This letter followed evidence given by STFC Executive Chair Michele Dougherty to the Committee on 4 March. Today, our response to the letter has been published on the Committee's webpage. In the interest of openness and transparency UKRI is also publishing it here: www.ukri.org/publications...

19 March 2026: UKRI and DSIT respond to Select Committee letter

Professor Sir Ian Chapman and Lord Vallance respond to a letter from the Chair of the House of Commons Science, Innovation and Technology Committee.

ukri.org

National 'missions' are easy to announce (or propose). But history shows that they are extraordinarily difficult to pull off. Laura Ryan and I have pooled our thoughts about the government's 'AI for Science' missions – and what has to be true for this programme to be a success. 🔗👇

How not to waste an AI for science mission

On the regrettable necessity of thinking carefully before spending public money

betterscienceproject.substack.com

For more than a decade, there’s been a cross-party consensus behind increasing the UK govt’s R&D spending to drive economic growth - & there’s been a substantial real terms increase in the science budget. But the economic growth hasn’t arrived, yet. What happens if it doesn’t?

More stuff for fans of 'bucket theory' to chew over: committees.parliament.uk/committee/13...

UKRI shares first detailed comparisons of past and future spending under new ‘bucket’ model - Committees - UK Parliament

Professor Sir Ian Chapman, Chief Executive of UKRI, has written to the Committee Chair, Dame Chi Onwurah, to provide previously unavailable information about its new 'bucket'-led approach to funding r...

committees.parliament.uk

I've written about the UKRI funding situation and the 'buckets' explainer, looking in detail at QR, STFC and Quantum. www.ersatzben.com/p/the-bucket...

The Bucket Stops Here

UKRI’s new funding framework takes a stab at classifying budgets – but doesn’t yet govern research

ersatzben.com

This is one of the absolute best things I’ve read on the potential impacts of AI on society and democracy. Forensic, principled, and sober. Bravo, @williamcb.bsky.social!!

William Cullerne Bown@williamcb.bsky.social · 6mo ago

People say AI will be the end of democracy. Will it? A reasoned answer here from me today.

Looking again at the UKRI funding 'buckets', I find it weird that QR has been put into 'Bucket 1' (curiosity-driven research), given that it supports a range of activity across all buckets, and REF does not only measure 'curiosity'.

Quick science policy thread 1 Changes in the governance of UK science since the mid 1980s make it extremely hard to be strategic (that was the point), in terms of both process (dropped) and capability (hollowed out).

This is a very good letter.

UK Research and Innovation@ukri.org · 6mo ago

Today, we're sharing an open letter from our Chief Executive, Professor Sir Ian Chapman, outlining changes to UKRI investment approach, and addressing concerns about research funding and the financial position of STFC. Read his letter here: www.ukri.org/news/open-le...

A little highlight of the new year for me is @igmansfield.bsky.social's forecasting contest. You can enter here, until 18 January! www.edrith.co.uk/p/2026-forec...

2026 Forecasting Contest

A forecasting contest for 2026, featuring UK politics and global events.

edrith.co.uk

My unpopular opinion: Erasmus+ is an elitist waste of money that only benefits young adults that have already “won” by (a) making it to university, and (b) having the plummy, ski-seasoned social capital to have heard of the scheme in the first place.

The government has talked about organising R&D into three 'buckets' - discovery research, research aligned to government priorities, and business support. This is a good idea that could fail in the implementation. Here are my 10 tests for success: www.ersatzben.com/p/the-three-...

The three-bucket problem

Ten tests for the UK’s new R&D funding framework

ersatzben.com

I’ll do a detailed Substack take on the DSIT R&D allocations soon — but, on the surface read, it looks like positive news on funding levels and prioritisation. Outstanding Qs: intra-UKRI allocs (esp Dual Support); OLS-IS vfm; ARIA ramp-up readiness; AI implementation pathway

Some quick thoughts on the UK post-16 white paper's implications for research: www.ersatzben.com/p/uk-post-16...

UK Post-16 White Paper – implications for research

Some quick thoughts.

ersatzben.com

Delighted to be a winner in the latest round of Emergent Ventures! marginalrevolution.com/marginalrevo... I will be pursuing R&D data analytics for policy, building on the work I've been doing on interdisciplinary metrics.

Emergent Ventures winners, 46th cohort - Marginal REVOLUTION

William Wu, NoVa, piano, Prokofiev and Rachmaninoff. Olga Niekrasova, Kyiv, animated film. Anhelina Leshak, Ukraine/GWU, general career support. Myles Fritts, Florida, fish and genetics. Luzia Bruckam...

marginalrevolution.com

@ersatzben.bsky.social asks for #Science policy not to weaken standards, but rather to rediscover a form of democratic splendour: demonstration statecraft that inspires awe by visibly delivering on ambitious goals.

Ben Johnson@ersatzben.com · 11mo ago

British research has perfected discipline and outsourced magnificence. The fix is to practise demonstration statecraft – visible proofs of capacity that pair theatre with delivery. A new essay by me for the Better Science Project: betterscienceproject.substack.com/p/the-counte...

A great piece from @ersatzben.bsky.social on the importance of bold, aesthetic, mission-oriented directions in publicly funded research. betterscienceproject.substack.com/p/the-counte...

The Counter-Reformation of science: how to make magnificence democratic

British research has perfected discipline and outsourced magnificence. The fix is to practise demonstration statecraft – visible proofs of capacity that pair theatre with delivery.

betterscienceproject.substack.com

British research has perfected discipline and outsourced magnificence. The fix is to practise demonstration statecraft – visible proofs of capacity that pair theatre with delivery. A new essay by me for the Better Science Project: betterscienceproject.substack.com/p/the-counte...

The Counter-Reformation of science: how to make magnificence democratic

British research has perfected discipline and outsourced magnificence. The fix is to practise demonstration statecraft – visible proofs of capacity that pair theatre with delivery.

betterscienceproject.substack.com

What if – hear me out – some people just sincerely think digital ID would be a good idea for public policy and that the trade-off with civil liberties is worth taking, and a weird quasi-conspiracy isn't required?

Do feed into this very interesting project looking at the different available R&D interventions

Ben Johnson@ersatzben.com · last yr.

🚨🔧 NEW R&D POLICY TOOLKIT LAUNCHED 🪏🚨 Excited to launch a new @BritishProgress product: an interactive toolkit for UK R&D analysts and policymakers! 🔗 rd-toolkit.britishprogress.org Thread below🧵

🚨🔧 NEW R&D POLICY TOOLKIT LAUNCHED 🪏🚨 Excited to launch a new @BritishProgress product: an interactive toolkit for UK R&D analysts and policymakers! 🔗 rd-toolkit.britishprogress.org Thread below🧵

🚨 NEW REPORT 🚨 The Alan Turing Institute has visibly struggled, and is now at a critical juncture. The Secretary of State has intervened. What happens next? A new report for @britishprogress.bsky.social by me and @jujulemons.bsky.social sets out a plan: 🧵

Open Philanthropy have been a terrific partner in the work of the UK Metascience Unit. Two things I’d mention in particular: (a) the very high quality of the metascience work OP do on their own account (eg Matt Clancy’s thoughtful articles)…

Rachel Coldicutt@rachelcoldicutt.bsky.social · last yr.

Meanwhile, Open Philanthropy www.openphilanthropy.org, founded by Facebook co-founder Dustin Moskovitz and with a history of supporting effective altruism, is a co-funder of the UKRI metascience programme www.ukri.org/opportunity/...