Long-awaited Nurse review of UK science delivers blueprint for a science superpower

Research, development and innovation (RDI) in the UK is ‘under threat’ because successive governments have underinvested, according to an independent review. However, it makes a range of recommendations, which, if adopted together, provide a blueprint for government to make the UK a genuine science superpower. The government needs to increase investment, reduce policy volatility, and improve how the UK delivers and supports research. The review was conducted by Paul Nurse, director of the Francis Crick Institute, and was commissioned by the secretary of state for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy in 2021. In it, Nurse urges the government to take a long-term, consistent and systematic approach to safeguarding the RDI landscape, focusing on change and good data collection. Nurse believes his review provides a guide to the necessary reforms. ‘It is all deliverable, but requires political leadership, researcher engagement, and support across all disciplines from the sciences to the arts and humanities, and critically, adequate funding similar to competitive research-intensive nations throughout the world,’ he writes.