The Scottish Funding Council (SFC) has today published the results of an independent review of its Research Pooling Initiative. 

The review, led by Lancaster University’s Professor Louise Heathwaite (CBE), finds that the investment made by SFC to facilitate collaboration across Scotland’s research base has had significant benefits.

Professor Heathwaite is Pro-Vice Chancellor (Research & Enterprise) at Lancaster University and a Fellow of the Royal Society of Edinburgh.

In 2005, in the face of increasing global competition which posed significant challenges to Scotland’s research landscape, SFC partnered with Scotland’s universities to launch a major initiative to drive collaboration across Scotland’s core science disciplines. This pioneering investment recognised that in order to compete on a global stage, Scotland needed to create a critical mass of excellent research in order to compete effectively for funding, research staff and doctoral students both nationally and internationally. 

The main findings from the Heathwaite Review include:

-         Research pooling has built a critical mass of research excellence in a number of disciplines important to Scotland’s research base enabling Scotland to retain its place as a global science leader.

-         Growing critical mass and developing a collaborative research culture takes time and the long-term commitment, supported by long-term investment, is to be applauded.

-         High performance of research pools is associated with growth in international collaboration.

-         Outputs from research pools are highly cited, exceeding the UK average.

-         Research pools are successful in attracting research income.

-         Research pools have successfully supported multi-institution graduate schools, building a critical mass of early talent that is distributed across Scotland.

The review also highlights some important challenges and makes recommendations for the future to ensure that Scotland remains competitive in the modern research landscape.

Commenting on the report, Stuart Fancey, Director of Research and Innovation at the SFC said:

“The Scottish Funding Council welcomes the findings of this review. Scotland took a bold step in bringing its top research teams together to create virtual departments large enough to take on the world’s best universities. We are therefore delighted that this investment has paid off and that Scotland remains competitive on the global research stage.

From securing investment to establish a Scottish centre of excellence in medical imaging to facilitating university collaboration to deliver solutions to industry challenges in advanced manufacturing, research pooling has had a real impact on the people of Scotland and the wider Scottish economy.

We would like to extend our thanks to Professor Heathwaite and to all those who contributed to the review. SFC will now take time to consider the Review’s recommendations for the future."