''Research Fortnight'' is an independent publication that reports on

research Research is "creative and systematic work undertaken to increase the stock of knowledge". It involves the collection, organization and analysis of evidence to increase understanding of a topic, characterized by a particular attentiveness ...

policy Policy is a deliberate system of guidelines to guide decisions and achieve rational outcomes. A policy is a statement of intent and is implemented as a procedure or protocol. Policies are generally adopted by a governance body within an orga ...

and

funding Funding is the act of providing resources to finance a need, program, or project. While this is usually in the form of money, it can also take the form of effort or time from an organization or company. Generally, this word is used when a firm use ...

in the UK. It is sold by institutional subscription; some 95% of

universities in the UK Universities in the United Kingdom have generally been instituted by royal charter, papal bull, Act of Parliament, or an instrument of government under the Further and Higher Education Act 1992 or the Higher Education and Research Act 2017. ...

subscribe to it, along with

government agencies A government or state agency, sometimes an appointed commission, is a permanent or semi-permanent organization in the machinery of government that is responsible for the oversight and administration of specific functions, such as an administratio ...

and

research councils Research funding is a term generally covering any funding for scientific research, in the areas of natural science, technology, and social science. Different methods can be used to disburse funding, but the term often connotes funding obtained ...

. The title is read by pro vice-chancellors for research, government scientists, policymakers, research managers and individual researchers. ''Research Fortnight'' was launched in 1994 by William Cullerne Bown, an entrepreneur and former

journalist A journalist is an individual that collects/gathers information in form of text, audio, or pictures, processes them into a news-worthy form, and disseminates it to the public. The act or process mainly done by the journalist is called journalis ...

on ''

The Independent ''The Independent'' is a British online newspaper. It was established in 1986 as a national morning printed paper. Nicknamed the ''Indy'', it began as a broadsheet and changed to tabloid format in 2003. The last printed edition was publish ...

'' and ''

New Scientist ''New Scientist'' is a magazine covering all aspects of science and technology. Based in London, it publishes weekly English-language editions in the United Kingdom, the United States and Australia. An editorially separate organisation publish ...

''. It has since launched sister publications ''Research Europe'', Onderzoek Nederland, Research Africa, Funding Insight and HE. It maintains a

database In computing, a database is an organized collection of data stored and accessed electronically. Small databases can be stored on a file system, while large databases are hosted on computer clusters or cloud storage. The design of databases ...

of research grants offered by government agencies,

charities A charitable organization or charity is an organization whose primary objectives are philanthropy and social well-being (e.g. educational, religious or other activities serving the public interest or common good). The legal definition of a cha ...

and other providers across the world, to which subscribers have access. With a team formed by 20 reporters, editors and managers they provide daily weekday updates that are behind a paywall on its website. It also offers a limited daily selection of free news. The company employs 90 staff in

Shoreditch Shoreditch is a district in the East End of London in England, and forms the southern part of the London Borough of Hackney. Neighbouring parts of Tower Hamlets are also perceived as part of the area. In the 16th century, Shoreditch was an imp ...

, London. It also has offices in

Australia Australia, officially the Commonwealth of Australia, is a sovereign country comprising the mainland of the Australian continent, the island of Tasmania, and numerous smaller islands. With an area of , Australia is the largest country by ...

and

South Africa South Africa, officially the Republic of South Africa (RSA), is the southernmost country in Africa. It is bounded to the south by of coastline that stretch along the South Atlantic and Indian Oceans; to the north by the neighbouring coun ...

. William Cullerne Bown is its founder, chairman and owner.

History

''Research Fortnight'' was founded following a decade-long squeeze on research funding that made it ever harder for researchers to find funding for their work. At the same time, the UK government sought to assert greater control over the research councils—arm’s length bodies that distribute public funds for research—by appointing

John Cadogan Sir John Ivan George Cadogan (8 October 1930 – 9 February 2020) was a British organic chemist. Early life Cadogan was born in Pembrey, Carmarthenshire, Wales, United Kingdom. He was educated at Swansea Grammar School, where he achieved St ...

, a former chief scientist at BP, as the first director general of the research councils. ''Research Fortnight'' was created to inform readers of existing funding opportunities and the policies that would affect future funding opportunities. ''Research Fortnight'' is well known for its reporting on the

Research Assessment Exercise The Research Assessment Exercise (RAE) was an exercise undertaken approximately every five years on behalf of the four UK higher education funding councils (HEFCE, SHEFC, HEFCW, DELNI) to evaluate the quality of research undertaken by British hig ...

s held in 1996, 2001 and 2008, and for its analysis of the results of the 2014

Research Excellence Framework The Research Excellence Framework (REF) is a research impact evaluation of British higher education institutions. It is the successor to the Research Assessment Exercise and it was first used in 2014 to assess the period 2008–2013. REF is under ...

, an exercise that informs the allocation of £6 billion of public spending on research in the UK. In 2014 it warned that unless the government acted to distribute research funding differently, money would accumulate in London and the south east of England. Its analysis was reported by the BBC, the ''Financial Times'', ''The Guardian'', ''The Telegraph'' and many other outlets.

Andre Geim , birth_date = , birth_place = Sochi, Russian SFSR, Soviet Union , death_date = , death_place = , workplaces = , nationality = Dutch and British , fields = Condensed matter physics , ...

, who shared the

Nobel prize in physics ) , image = Nobel Prize.png , alt = A golden medallion with an embossed image of a bearded man facing left in profile. To the left of the man is the text "ALFR•" then "NOBEL", and on the right, the text (smaller) "NAT•" then " ...

in 2010, guest edited the 500th issue, which appeared on 17 May 2017 and contained an interview with

George Osborne George Gideon Oliver Osborne (born Gideon Oliver Osborne; 23 May 1971) is a former British politician and newspaper editor who served as Chancellor of the Exchequer from 2010 to 2016 and as First Secretary of State from 2015 to 2016 in the ...

, a former chancellor of the exchequer.

Format

Printed copies of ''Research Fortnight'' and ''Research Europe'' are produced every two weeks. Each is widely read within universities, government departments and funding agencies. Daily news is circulated to subscribers by email and is behind a paywall on the ResearchProfessional.com site. The printed blue-on-cream copies are instantly recognisable. They contain a cover story, an editorial, news and comment, plus an “interesting if true” back-page column. The titles also contain news of funding opportunities and jobs. Many high-profile contributors write for the comment section, including Nobel laureates, government ministers, research leaders, policy analysts and commentators.

Social media

Journalists at the company run several official

Twitter Twitter is an online social media and social networking service owned and operated by American company Twitter, Inc., on which users post and interact with 280-character-long messages known as "tweets". Registered users can post, like, and ...

accounts that link to limited free content, including @ResFortnight and @ResearchEurope.

Staffing

The editors of ''Research Fortnight'' and ''Research Europe'' include: * William Cullerne Bown * Ian Mundell * Colin Macilwain *

Ehsan Masood Hassan Ehsan Masood (born 9 August 1967) is a British science writer, journalist and broadcaster. Between 2009 and 2017 he was the editor of Research Fortnight (part of Research Professional News), is currently bureau chief (editorials, Africa a ...

Many reporters employed by the company have progressed to prominent positions in the media and/or

think tanks A think tank, or policy institute, is a research institute that performs research and advocacy concerning topics such as social policy, political strategy, economics, military, technology, and culture. Most think tanks are non-governmental org ...

. They include: * Ananyo Bhattacharya (''

Nature Nature, in the broadest sense, is the physical world or universe. "Nature" can refer to the phenomena of the physical world, and also to life in general. The study of nature is a large, if not the only, part of science. Although humans are ...

'', ''

The Economist ''The Economist'' is a British weekly newspaper printed in demitab format and published digitally. It focuses on current affairs, international business, politics, technology, and culture. Based in London, the newspaper is owned by The Eco ...

'') * Daniel Cressey (''Nature'') *

Hannah Devlin Hannah Devlin is an author in London and science correspondent for '' The Guardian''. Education Devlin attended St Bede's College, Manchester, where she studied A-Levels in Maths, Physics, French and General Studies. She completed an undergra ...

(''

The Times ''The Times'' is a British daily national newspaper based in London. It began in 1785 under the title ''The Daily Universal Register'', adopting its current name on 1 January 1788. ''The Times'' and its sister paper '' The Sunday Times'' ( ...

'', ''The Guardian'') * Lee Elliot Major (

Wellcome Trust The Wellcome Trust is a charitable foundation focused on health research based in London, in the United Kingdom. It was established in 1936 with legacies from the pharmaceutical magnate Henry Wellcome (founder of one of the predecessors of Glaxo ...

Sutton Trust The Sutton Trust is an educational charity in the United Kingdom which aims to improve social mobility and address educational disadvantage. The charity was set up by educational philanthropist, Sir Peter Lampl in 1997. Since then, it has unde ...

) * Anna Fazackerley (''

Times Higher Education ''Times Higher Education'' (''THE''), formerly ''The Times Higher Education Supplement'' (''The Thes''), is a British magazine reporting specifically on news and issues related to higher education. Ownership TPG Capital acquired TSL Education ...

'',

Policy Exchange Policy Exchange is a British conservative think tank based in London. In 2007 it was described in ''The Daily Telegraph'' as "the largest, but also the most influential think tank on the right". ''The Washington Post'' said Policy Exchange's re ...

, ministerial speechwriter) * Miriam Frankel (''

The Conversation ''The Conversation'' is a 1974 American mystery thriller film written, produced, and directed by Francis Ford Coppola and starring Gene Hackman, John Cazale, Allen Garfield, Cindy Williams, Frederic Forrest, Harrison Ford, Teri Garr, and Robe ...

'') * Elizabeth Gibney (''Times Higher Education'', ''Nature'') * Natasha Gilbert (''Nature'') * Rachel Hall (''The Guardian'') * Laura Hood (''The Conversation'') * Alok Jha (''The Guardian'', ITN) * Anthea Lipsett (''Times Higher Education'', ''The Guardian'') * Natasha Loder (''Nature'', ''The Economist'') * Penny Sarchet (''New Scientist'') * Adam Smith (''The Economist'') * Inga Vesper (''SciDev.Net'')

References

{{Reflist, 30em Science and technology magazines published in the United Kingdom Innovation in the United Kingdom Science policy