PIONEERING psychological research could disappear from Britain within a
few years, scientists warned last week after the Medical Research Council
decided to close one of its three remaining units and wind down pure
psychological research at another.
Without funds from the MRC, experimental psychology will wither and die, say
researchers. Because this type of study has no immediate commercial application,
industry is unlikely to pick up the tab as it has in some other fields.
At a meeting last week, the MRC decided that the Cognitive Development Unit
at University College London (UCL) will close within two years. Research at the
Applied Psychology Unit at the University of Cambridge, will move away from
exploring intelligence and towards neuroscience. The third unit, the Child
Psychiatry Unit at the Maudsley Hospital in south London, will remain open.
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Nevertheless, some psychologists fear that the decision signals the council鈥檚
intention to pull out of psychology research. The MRC鈥檚 Social and Applied
Psychology Unit in Sheffield was closed in 1994.
鈥淚t鈥檚 more than unfortunate, it鈥檚 potentially disastrous,鈥� says John Groeger,
chairman of the British Psychological Society鈥檚 information committee and
professor of psychology at Surrey University, who worked at the Cambridge unit
for eight years. 鈥淲hat we did get with the old setup were outstanding centres of
excellence, not just nationally but internationally.鈥�
Groeger believes that the cash-strapped MRC has decided that psychology does
not fall squarely under the remit of medical research. Some of the work at
Cambridge, such as the interaction between humans and computers, has industrial
rather than medical application. He speculates that those at the top of the MRC
鈥渄on鈥檛 see psychology as being part of its mission鈥�. 鈥淏ut if the MRC doesn鈥檛,
nobody will and they will shut.鈥�
Trevor Robbins, chair of the MRC鈥檚 neuroscience and mental health board,
denies this. 鈥淭he MRC is incredibly committed to social and developmental
psychology,鈥� he says.
According to the BPS, the units at Cambridge and at UCL have made major
contributions to the understanding of intelligence. The Cognitive Development
Unit is responsible for pioneering work in autism, language development and
dyslexia. It will close in July 1998 when its head, John Morton, retires.
鈥淚 think the decision has been badly thought through,鈥� Morton told New
杏吧原创. 鈥淲e were told the reason was that the universities were doing so
well in this sector and that鈥檚 just not the case.鈥�