A WINDFALL for British scientists was announced this week by Gordon Brown,
the Chancellor of the Exchequer. Over the next three years, an extra 拢1.1
billion will be provided for research鈥斅�700 million from the
government, and the rest from the Wellcome Trust, the world鈥檚 largest biomedical
research charity.
Around 拢600 million of this rare partnership of public and private
funds has been earmarked for refurbishing buildings and buying equipment. 鈥淚f
you go round Britain鈥檚 universities, you see a crumbling infrastructure,鈥� says
Wellcome Trust director Michael Dexter. 鈥淲e couldn鈥檛 stand back and allow that
to continue.鈥�
About 拢400 million of the government鈥檚 contribution will be distributed
among the research councils, while the remaining 拢100 million from the
Wellcome Trust will pay for a new X-ray synchrotron to analyse the structures of
biological molecules.
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Dexter says that universities will use open competition to vie for the cash.
A joint executive board representing the Wellcome Trust and the government will
vet bids, which will not have to be relevant to the trust鈥檚 interests in
biomedicine. 鈥淭here are no strings attached,鈥� says Dexter.
Cabinet minister Margaret Beckett, who is President of the Board of Trade,
describes the new funds as 鈥渁 real vote of confidence in Britain鈥檚 scientists
and engineers鈥�. The Save British Science pressure group, which has long
campaigned for increased research spending, also welcomes the news.