“But the recent exacerbation of challenges around peer review means that person-centred, application-based competitive funding can no longer be the central driver and shaper of how the research world works.”
“There will likely always be a role for grant funding. Where such direct competition of ideas makes sense, process experimentation and rollout of innovative funding approaches are the way forward.”
www.researchprofessionalnews.com/rr-news-uk-v...
Nothing beats an encounter with a lead font…
Nothing beats an encounter with a lead font…
Woodland run …
‘We’re in an age of serious cinematic bloat. It’s not Hollywood stars who need Ozempic; it’s their showcases.’
www.nytimes.com/2026/04/20/o...
Trump gets it right!!?
‘It is the policy of my administration to accelerate innovative research models and appropriate drug approvals to increase access to psychedelic drugs that could save lives and reverse the crisis of serious mental illness in America.”
giftarticle.ft.com/giftarticle/...
Pension fund giant ‘should put returns before backing Britain’
“Almost twice as many people favoured maximising the performance of pensions in the LGPS, one of the UK’s largest pension schemes, over “mandated” domestic investments,”
Shocking insight!
www.thetimes.com/article/b0ce...
“The German multinational Boehringer Ingelheim has agreed a £150 million investment to create an artificial intelligence and machine learning centre in London’s Knowledge Quarter, marking the first big pharma investment since the government agreed this month to raise medicine prices.”
Boehringer to invest £150m in London after US trade deal
“Boehringer said the decision to invest in King’s Cross “recognises the UK’s commitment to AI and the life sciences sector”.
Excellent news.
www.thetimes.com/article/6f7a...
A shocking failure to understand workforce needs by all concerned from educator to employer.
www.bbc.co.uk/news/article...
Concerning behaviour “The claimants allege Green GEN Cymru has been acting unlawfully and with disregard for biosecurity while trying to gain access to private land, leaving local communities feeling "frightened and intimidated"
www.bbc.co.uk/news/article...
“The question is how European nations can become digitally sovereign after years of dependence on foreign technology services. Political & industrial leaders recognise that it will not be possible for Europe to have a complete decoupling from US tech,“
www.thetimes.com/article/ad24...
File and forget!
“Neville-Rolfe has not explicitly suggested a solution for the crisis but she does want ministers to review the situation.”
www.thetimes.com/article/4029...
Sentence of the day !
“The gun is heavier than I expected, about the weight of a nice bottle of pinot noir”
www.thetimes.com/article/093c...
“I’m at a total loss to explain why people in leadership would want to do this.”
“We were in a golden age of biomedical science. Universities and medical centres were operating at high efficiency and speed. Now there are attacks on academic institutions, they’re disassembling scientific infrastructure that was created over many years,” www.theguardian.com/science/2026...
They’re exceptionally early…
First Edge Hill #morningrun off road since January .. glorious morning and great feeling even though my feet are wet @johnhuww.bsky.social @stevewashbourne.bsky.social
Contrasts 2
Contrasts
“The fatal weakness of many Labour politicians is their sense of moral righteousness, the conviction that their cherished “Labour values” are inherently superior to those of their opponents. It is a comforting illusion …”
www.thetimes.com/article/8f0f...
Azaleas
“After three decades of groupthink and sunk costs, we delayed investing in other targets. We barely understand the brain yet, hubristically, bet on one theory to cure it.”
An interesting theme for a workshop -
“what if we got it wrong”
What if we’ve been wrong about the treatment for Alzheimer’s?
“What if amyloid isn’t causing Alzheimer’s at all? What if it is, like forgetfulness, merely a symptom of something deeper? We have, the most vociferous critics say, gone badly wrong.”
www.thetimes.com/article/421b...
President Trump is planning to sign an executive order intended to boost research and ease federal restrictions on psychedelic compounds that have shown promise in treating a range of mental health conditions, according to officials familiar with the discussions.
Quite a sky ..
Rowan Williams is terrific in this clip.
x.com/spectator/st...
“Encouraging undergraduates to become entrepreneurs, particularly in the “new technology age”, and reducing courses to two years, he believes, can generate a virtuous circle of wealth into endowment funds to back the next generation.”
“I’m still an academic junkie,” he says. “I hang around with lots of different universities and lots of different, very clever people. They’re willing to share their knowledge with me in the hope of getting a little bit of knowledge back about business.”
Laudable..