16 Times Higher Education8 February 2018
NEWS
It has been many months in the
making, but the UK’s new research
umbrella body – which brings
together the country’s seven research
councils alongside Innovate UK and
the research functions currently held
by the Higher Education Funding
Council for England – is preparing
to launch.
The formation of UK Research
and Innovation, which will oversee
the distribution of £6 billion in fund-
ing each year, has sparked significant
debate among leading scientists
about how much independence will
be retained by the individual research
councils under the new structure.
But Fiona Watt (pictured, below),
the government’s preferred
candidate to become executive chair
of the Medical Research Council,
has sought to reassure the academic
community, insisting that individual
research councils “will not lose their
autonomy in the way that money is
spent” to UKRI overseers.
The major shake-up of the UK’s
research infrastructure is accom-
panied by concerns over a perceived
tightening of control over research
by the government, with some
sector leaders highlighting the
former role of Sir Mark Walport,
UKRI’s chief executive, as chief
scientific adviser.
Professor Watt, a world-renowned
expert on skin stem cells, said that
these concerns were unfounded.
“The direct interaction with
government will be at one remove
[and], for me personally, that’s
fine,” Professor Watt toldTimes
Higher Education. “I’m certainly
not going into the role feeling [like]
I’m going to lack the power to
control the budget.”
Professor Watt, who will con-
tinue in her current role directing
the Centre for Stem Cells and
Regenerative Medicine at King’s
College London, acknowledged that
there was “some uncertainty” for
existing MRC employees, but
argued that this related to “what
the terms and conditions will be of
their employment and how their
existing roles will map into this
bigger structure”.
“I’m very keen to provide some
clarity, stability and comfort that
although things are going to change,
it’s not a case of ransacking a well-
structured organisation,” she said.
Referring to the uplift in research
funding planned under the govern-
ment’s industrial strategy, “it’s more
a case of looking at the opportun-
ities afforded by more money in the
system”, Professor Watt said.
Professor Watt admitted that
securing the job was a “surprise”
since she was convinced that
she had only been invited to apply
“to fill some sort of gender quota”.
“It’s a really unprecedented time
in UK science,” she added. “The
Brexit vote caused a lot of upset to
a lot of scientists because we’re very
international in outlook. I wasn’texactly looking for a new job, but
with all the changes taking place,
I went for an interview with the atti-
tude that it was like a perfect
storm...whatever happened, it
couldn’t just be business as usual
and I found that very interesting.”Think positive
Rather than succumb to media-
blown pessimism over the possible
consequences of Brexit, she sug-
gested that scientists see the chang-
ing research environment as a
“positive picture” of the shape of
things to come. “The creation of
UKRI...makes a lot of sense,” she
said. “On top of that, the announce-
ment that the government is to com-
mit more of its gross domestic
product to research and develop-
ment is massive for me. I remember
lobbying [former science minister]
Lord Sainsbury to do this when he
came to a conference 20 years ago.”
With regard to increased
pressure on UK scientists to trans-
late research findings into commer-
cial entities – as outlined in the
industrial strategy – one of Profes-
sor Watt’s first priorities will be to
help facilitate better interaction
between research and industry.
“Translating basic science into
clinical benefit...I think is really
important,” she said. “The remit ofthe MRC is to spend taxpayers’
money to improve human health.
You can’t do that if you don’t think
about translation.
“The reason I moved to
Guy’s [Hospital campus at King’s]
was that I wanted to be physically
embedded in a hospital. For me per-
sonally, that has been hugely posi-
tive. With the pressures on the NHS
in mind, there are a lot of very able
clinicians who have a PhD but their
time is very limited – one of the
things that I am very keen to do is
facilitate those interactions.”
Speaking at a pre-appointment
hearing held by the House of Com-
mons Science and Technology Com-
mittee on 31 January, Professor
Watt said that ethnic and gender
diversity at the research body, “cer-
tainly on MRC committees”, could
be improved. “I think that more
could be done to get better ethnic
balance especially, but having rec-
ognised that that’s something we
have to work at, I’m optimistic that
we could achieve it,” she said.
Asked if she felt “well remuner-
ated” in the post in light of recent
gender pay gap news headlines,
Professor Watt replied: “It’s fine.”
Professor Watt takes up her role
as executive chair on 1 April, when
UKRI is officially launched.
[email protected]Fiona Watt keen to offer
some ‘comfort’ before
shift to umbrella body.
Rachael Pells writes
Research councils will not sacrifice
power to UKRI, says MRC nominee
Sunshine and showersFiona Watt promised that there would be no ‘ransacking of a well-structured organisation’ALAMY