Ten leading UK research universities will be awarded about £4.5 million each from the UK government’s £54 million Global Talent Fund, designed to attract world-class international scientists.

The Department for Science, Innovation and Technology (DSIT) has confirmed funding will be distributed evenly across 10 universities and two research institutes; the Medical Research Council’s Laboratory of Molecular Biology, based in Cambridge, and the John Innes Centre, a plant science laboratory located near Norwich.

Among the universities to take a share of the talent fund, announced in late June but widely discussed in Whitehall since early May, are: the universities of Bath, Birmingham, Cambridge, Cardiff, Oxford, Southampton, Strathclyde and Warwick, plus Queen’s University Belfast and Imperial College London.

The funding will be spread over five years, starting in 2025-26, and will be administered by UK Research and Innovation. Funding will cover 100 per cent of eligible costs, including both relocation and research expenses, with no requirement for match funding from research organisations, said the announcement on 18 July.

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The initiative also includes full visa costs for researchers and their dependants, with researchers likely to apply into the global talent or skilled worker visa.

Announcing the names of the successful institutions that will receive an estimated 60 to 80 researchers in total, science minister Patrick Vallance appealed directly to overseas researchers who may wish to relocate to the UK.

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“My message to the bold and the brave who are advancing new ideas, wherever they are, is: our doors are open to you,” he said, adding: “We want to work with you, support you, and give you a home where you can make your ideas a reality we all benefit from.”

The research will be focused on “eight high priority sectors critical to our Modern Industrial Strategy like life sciences and digital technologies”, DSIT added.

With no representatives from the north west or north east of England, the choice of institutions may, however, prove contentious.

Institutions have been selected by UKRI and DSIT using a “bespoke formula” that used “criteria to determine organisational strength” in how an institution had received and used competitive international funding, recruited and retained international researchers and use of the global talent visa, explained the 

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Commenting on the new fund, chancellor Rachel Reeves said: “The UK is home to some of the world’s best universities which are vital for attracting international top talent.

“Supported by our new Global Talent Taskforce, the Global Talent Fund will cement our position as a leading choice for the world’s top researchers to make their home here, supercharging growth and delivering on our plan for change,” she added.

The Global Talent Fund, announced two months after the European Union unveiled its “Choose Europe” campaign to attract US researchers disaffected by Donald Trump’s attack on science funding, was part of over £115 million in funding that is being dedicated to attracting scientific and research talent to the UK.

Christopher Smith, international champion at UKRI, said the talent fund was a “vital part of UKRI’s mission to support an open, dynamic, and diverse research and innovation system”.

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“By supporting our brilliant research institutions to attract outstanding individuals from across the world and foster collaboration between nations, we are strengthening the UK’s position at the heart of the global knowledge economy,” he added.

jack.grove@timeshighereducation.com