UK GOVERNMENT OFFICE FOR SCIENCEThe U.K.’s newly formed science funding agency, UK Research and Innovation (UKRI), now has a leader: immunologist Mark Walport, who is currently chief science advisor to the UK government. Walport will formally take the helm at UKRI, an agency that was proposed in 2015 and is expected to clear Parliament later this year. When it is officially formed in April 2018, UKRI will oversee all science funding in the country.
His appointment, which the UK government announced yesterday (February 2), was met with praise from several British scientists and science advocates. “[Walport’s] substantial experience will set UKRI up for success, and the whole team at Innovate UK look forward to continuing to work closely with him to make sure that UKRI is fully prepared to address the scientific, economic and social challenges of the future,” Ruth McKernan, Chief Executive of Innovate UK, the UK’s official innovation agency, said in the statement. “The UKRI CEO can provide the much needed, and presently lacking, leadership needed to deliver the best deal for UK science,” Paul Nurse, director of The Francis Crick Institute in London, told Science. “Mark’s robust qualities will help push science much further up the ...
