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 universities 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, along with funds for learning and teaching and widening participation and, as such, can be distributed by the recipient university according to their own strategic priorities.
There are two main variables affecting the allocation of QR funds to each university: quality and the number of full-time equivalent research active staff as assessed by the most recent (2001) Research Assessment Exercise (RAE).
Quality
The quality of research is assessed in the RAE. This involved the awarding of a rating, on a scale of 1 to 5* (five star), for the quality of its research in each unit of assessment in which it was active. The table below shows how these ratings relate to funding multipliers. Ratings 1, 2 and 3b attract no funding, while a rating of 5* attracts more than 3 times as much funding as a rating of 3a for the same volume of research activity.
| 2001 RAE rating | Funding weights in QR model |
|---|---|
| 1 | 0 |
| 2 | 0 |
| 3b | 0 |
| 3a | 1 |
| 4 | 1.5 |
| 5 | 2.25 |
| 5* | 3.375 |
Volume
The volume of research in each unit of assessment is measured using 3 separate components. These volume components apply for departments rated 3a or above in the RAE and are weighted as follows:
- research-active staff – 1 x no. of 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 we also assign each subject 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 High cost laboratory and clinical subjects | 1.6 |
| B Intermediate cost subjects | 1.3 |
| C Others | 1.0 |
During 2007/08, the Department for Employment and Learning will distribute QR funding of £47,264,151 to the Northern Ireland universities, consisting of £36,240,285 as ‘mainstream’ QR, £7,707,698 for the costs of postgraduate research training and £3,315,968 as charities support element. Tables containing details of QR funding and research volume components, broken down by subject for each of the universities are available to download.
Table 1 shows the distribution of Northern Ireland QR funds for the period 2002/03 to 2007/08. 2002/03 was the first year for which the results of the 2001 Research Assessment Exercise were used in the calculation.
Table 1: QR funding in Northern Ireland, 2002/03 to 2007/08 (£s)
| Academic Year* | The Queen’s University of Belfast | University of Ulster | Total Northern Ireland QR Funding |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2007/08 | 30,904,504 | 16,359,647 | 47,264,151 |
| 2006/07 | 28,576,233 | 15,081,087 | 43,657,320 |
| 2005/06 | 25,765,128 | 14,059,582 | 39,824,710 |
| 2004/05 | 23,502,101 | 13,270,767 | 36,772,868 |
| 2003/04 | 23,545,581 | 12,893,235 | 36,438,816 |
| 2002/03 | 17,784,002 | 11,869,077 | 29,653,079 |
Charities Support Element
A new initiative from 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 recent charities initiative announced by the Higher Education Research Council for England (HEFCE) and will bring the NI universities broadly into line with their English counterparts.
Research Capability Fund
Since 2003/04 the Department has also allocated funds for emerging areas, through a Research Capability Fund. Units of assessment rated at 3b in the most recent RAE which have been 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 2 shows the allocations to date.
Table 2: Research Capability Funding in Northern Ireland, 2003/04 to 2007/08 (£s)
| Academic Year | The Queen’s University of Belfast – Town and Country Planning | University of Ulster – Environmental Sciences | Total Research Capability Funding |
|---|---|---|---|
| 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 Martin Fullerton (tel: 028 9025 7693).