The UK maintains a large number of research facilities both in the UK and abroad |
PUBLIC-FUNDED research is undertaken in many places, such as universities, research institutes, government laboratories, and private facilities, both in the UK and abroad.
As part of their funding programme, the research councils make substantial contributions to these facilities to sustain the UK academic community.
The AHRC’s Research Centres Scheme promotes the co-ordination of research activity and enables researchers from different institutions and environments to work together on related activities and projects. The AHRC research centres are all UK based, and range from a Centre for British Film and TV Studies, to a Centre for Irish and Scottish Studies.
The Biotechnology and Biological Sciences Research Council (BBSRC) also funds strategically important research institutes and the work of the scientists who work in them.
The Economic and Social Research Council (ESRC) has a variety of funding schemes which maximise the opportunities for individuals and groups to carry out quality research in higher education institutions and independent research centres in the UK. In addition to our grants support, we fund centres and groups which are national focal points for social science research where researchers collaborate on long-term projects.
The Medical Research Centre (MRC) supports work in over 50 of its own institutes and units in the UK and abroad. Centre grants are designed to support a multidisciplinary research-centred environment, in partnership with a university, offering full-time, focused scientific leadership and management.
The Natural Environment Research Council (NERC) operates its own centres, surveys and laboratories, has units based within several UK universities and runs a number of scientific service facilities.
The Science and Technology Facilities Council (STFC) was formed from the merger of the Particle Physics and Astronomy Research Council (PPARC) and the Central Laboratories for the Research Councils (CCLRC).
The new combined body has direct responsibility for the management of centres based in Edinburgh, Hawaii and La Palma, which support ground-based astronomy. The STFC also supports a range of facilities at the Rutherford Appleton Laboratory, including the new synchrotron light source, and at the Daresbury Laboratory.
On a European or International level the research councils support a range of programmes and organisations conducting research and providing training, such as ESF, EMBL, and the European Laboratory for Particle Physics (CERN). |
