After years studying taxpayer-funded grants, I strongly believe any future right-wing (or common sense) government would do best to cut two bodies first: the Arts and Humanities Research Council (AHRC) and the Economic and Social Research Council (ESRC).
These two research councils are subsidiaries of the UK Research and Innovation, a non-departmental body of the Government, which dishes out £8 billion of taxpayers’ money each year.
Respectively, AHRC and ESRC have awarded £841,830 and £668,244 to the studies The Europe that Gay Porn Built, 1945-2000 and Pregnant Men: An International Exploration of Trans Male Experiences and Practices of Reproduction, to give you an idea of their merits.
The UKRI has nine research councils in total, some more serious than others. When you scan the UKRI website you may think that’s it in terms of taxpayer funding. But the UKRI then has even more offshoots from which funds pour.
One of these is titled The Future Leaders Fellowships scheme, the subject of my article today.
Not all FLF grants are dreadful, to add. For instance, last year the UKRI spent £120 million on research into the causes of lung cancer and Alzheimer’s disease through its FLF programme.
However, it’s another example of serious research being let down by the more trivial kind, as well as projects that don’t appear to have any relevance to the UK, as you will soon see. Without further ado:
