Quality-related Research (QR) funding

QR funding is used to support the research infrastructure necessary for the Northern Ireland universities to conduct research, including permanent academic staff salaries, premises, libraries and central computing costs. It also contributes to the costs of postgraduate research training. QR also enables the higher education institutions to conduct their own directed research, much of which is supported later by the Research Councils and others (charities, the EU etc.). This is known as the Dual Support System.

QR is paid as part of the block grant to the institutions, which includes funds for learning and teaching and widening participation and, as such, can be distributed by the recipient university according to its own strategic priorities.

Table 1 shows the distribution of Northern Ireland QR funds for the period 2002/03 to 2011/12.

Table 1

Total QR funding (£s) in Northern Ireland, 2002/03 to 2011/12, inclusive of RDP/PGR (Research Degree Programme/Postgraduate Research) Supervision Fund for postgraduate research training

Academic Year*	Queen's University Belfast Mainstream QR	Queen's University Belfast Charities Support	University of Ulster Mainstream QR	University of Ulster Charities Support	Stranmillis University College Mainstream QR	Stranmillis University College Charities Support
2011/12	30,139,233	3,328,060	16,593,521	610,319	59,746	3,039
2010/11	33,636,920	3,403,153	17,075,217	784,556	60,007	5,289
2009/10	31,659,644	3,378,531	17,012,029	814,468	60,218	0
2008/09	29,521,070	3,084,946	16,231,539	647,351
2007/08	27,958,977	2,832,486	15,451,060	483,482
2006/07	26,243,021	2,333,212	14,676,870	404,217

Academic Year*	Queen's University	University of Ulster
2005/06	25,765,128	14,059,582
2004/05	23,502,099	13,270,768
2003/04	24,875,996	13,781,140
2002/03	15,985,002	10,668,073

Academic Year*	Total Northern Ireland QR Funding
2011/12	50,733,918
2010/11	51,965,142
2009/10	51,924,890
2008/09	49,484,906
2007/08	46,726,005
2006/07	43,657,320
2005/06	39,824,710
2004/2005	36,772,867
2003/2004	38,657,136
2002/2003	26,653,075

Research Degree Programme/Postgraduate Research
Academic Years run from August to July

There are two main variables affecting the allocation of QR funds to each institution: quality and the number of full-time equivalent research active staff as assessed by the Research Assessment Exercise (RAE), the most recent of which took place in 2008.

The outcome of RAE 2008 can be viewed at the following link:

Research Assessment Exercise (RAE)

Tables containing details of QR funding and research volume components, broken down by subject, for each of the institutions are available to download. Stranmillis University College submitted to the RAE for the first time in 2008.

Tables containing details of QR funding and research volume components for 2011/12

Quality

The quality of research is assessed in the RAE and RAE 2008 results are presented as quality profiles. The introduction of the quality profile eliminated the averaging effect of single point ratings used in previous RAE exercises and enabled evaluation panels to exercise a finer degree of judgment, especially at grade boundaries. These profiles are awarded a rating, on a scale of 1* (one star) to 4* (four star). The table below shows how these ratings relate to funding multipliers. A rating of 1* attracts no funding, while a rating of 4* attracts 7 times as much funding as a rating of 2* for the same volume of research activity.

2008 RAE rating	Funding weights in QR model
1	0
2	1.0
3	3.0
4	7.0

Volume

The volume of research in each unit of assessment is measured using 3 separate components. These volume components apply for departments rated 2* or above in the RAE and are weighted as follows:

research-active staff–1 x no. of Full-time equivalent (FTE) research-active staff funded from general funds (including NHS funding for nursing and other subjects allied to medicine) and selected for assessment in the RAE. This is by far the most important measure of volume;
research assistants – 0.067 x no. of FTE research assistants;
research fellows – 0.06 x no. of FTE research fellows.

Cost Weighting

Although quality and volume are the two main variables each subject is also assigned with one of three cost weights, which have been calculated to reflect the relative costs of research in those subjects. These are multiplied by the volume of research in each subject to work out the total funding for that subject.

The 3 cost weights are:

		Weighting
A	Clinical medicine and laboratory based subjects	1.6
B	Subjects with a technical/experimental premium	1.3
C	Other Subjects	1.0

Charities Support Element

An initiative in place since 2006 has been the creation of a Northern Ireland Charities Support Element, within the Department’s block grant for research, to supplement university research income received from charities. This initiative is an integral part of the wider UK Government policy to ensure long term sustainability of the research base through Full Economic Costing and is in keeping with the commitment made by Government, in its Science & Innovation Framework 2004-14, to close the gap between the full cost of charity-sponsored research and the funds currently available from universities and charities. It also mirrors the charities initiative operated by the Higher Education Funding Council for England (HEFCE) and brings the NI universities broadly into line with their English counterparts.

EU Framework Support Fund

In 2011/12, a fund was established to encourage increased participation by the universities in the European Framework Programme for Research and Technological Development. The £80,000 funding (held back from the QR pot) has been allocated to the two universities in proportion to the QR funding they receive.

Sustainability Research Fund

In 2009/10, 5 % (approximately £2 million) was held back from the QR pot. It was subsequently decided that this funding should be directed towards areas that encompass the theme of sustainability, particularly research that relates to alternative/renewable energy sources or green technology. This is in line with Research Council UK priorities and a key theme identified within MATRIX. Proposals were submitted by the universities and the following projects and funding allocations – based on the current QR split (table 2) - were approved.

Table 2: Sustainability Research Funding (£s) for 2009/10 and 2010/11

Academic Year	The Queen`s University of Belfast - Clean Energies	University of Ulster - Sustainability Measurement and System Evaluation	Total Sustainability Research Funding
2010/11	1,268,027	739,082	2,007,109
2009/10	1,266,395	740,714	2,007,109

Academic Year

The Queen`s University of Belfast
- Clean Energies

University of Ulster - Sustainability
Measurement and System Evaluation

Total Sustainability

Research Funding

2010/11

1,268,027

739,082

2,007,109

2009/10

1,266,395

740,714

2,007,109

The Department committed funding for two years and from Academic Year 2011/12, this funding stream has been returned to the QR pot.

Research Capability Fund

In 2003/04 the Department allocated funds for emerging areas, through a Research Capability Fund. Units of assessment rated at 3b in RAE 2001 which were identified by the recipient university as being of strategic importance and where there was no corresponding unit at the other Northern Ireland University at a higher rating were eligible. Two areas were identified: Town and Country Planning (RAE unit of assessment 34) at The Queen’s University of Belfast and Environmental Sciences (RAE unit of assessment 21) at the University of Ulster. Table 3 shows the allocations to date. In light of the move to quality profiles, this research capability funding was merged with the mainstream QR grant in 2009/10.

Table 3

Research Capability Funding (£s) in Northern Ireland 2003/04 to 2008/09

Academic Year	Queen's University Town & Country Planning	University of Ulster - Environmental Sciences	Total Research Capability Funding
2008/09	116,532	438,240	554,772
2007/08	113,040	425,106	538,146
2006/07	104,486	392,940	497,426
2005/06	99,980	375,994	475,974
2004/05	80,941	304,392	385,333
2003/04	81,728	307,355	389,083

For further information, please contact HE Research Policy Branch (tel: 02890 257 693).

Additional PhDs

Under the last Programme for Government, the Department committed to “increase by 300 the number of PhD research students at local universities by 2010”. These additional PhDs places are focused on areas of economic relevance as agreed by the Department of Enterprise, Trade and Investment which is in turn informed by “MATRIX”, the Northern Ireland Science and Industry Panel. The economic priority areas are: Agri-food, life and health sciences (including behavioural), advanced materials (including clean technologies), engineering, information and communication technologies, electronics, software engineering, construction (including clean technologies), creative media and financial services.

The Department was unsuccessful in Budget 2010 in securing funding to retain the additional places on a permanent basis. However, a portion of the funding needed to fund 300 additional places to the end of the 2010/11 academic year, 200 additional places for the 2011/12 academic year and 100 additional places for the 2012/13 academic year has been identified.