ResearchPlus launches to help boost UK research and innovation

The University of Essex is one of 10 leading research-focused universities forming a new strategic partnership. ResearchPlus will give a collective voice to universities that constitute a critical element of the UK’s research and innovation system, and that deliver vital research-informed education and advanced skills.

ResearchPlus has the primary aim of enhancing the strength of the UK’s research and innovation base. Through strategic collaboration and proactive engagement, this new partnership will seek to support economic growth, prosperity, and societal wellbeing across the whole of the UK, working with government, business, and civil society, and complementing rather than competing with other sector bodies.

Essential partners for government, business and communities

The foundations of most ResearchPlus universities were laid by successive government and industry initiatives to invest in economic growth and social development, through fundamental research, the advancement of technology, and the expansion of educational opportunity and the provision of advanced skills. 

ResearchPlus universities remain true to those missions and are essential partners for government, businesses, and communities in the expansion and re-imagining of universities’ contribution to the public good. They will play a vital role in delivering the ambitions of the Industrial Strategy across all eight high-growth sectors.

Over the next few months, the ResearchPlus partners will develop a programme of collective and collaborative work and engagement, with a formal parliamentary launch planned for the autumn.

“We are a university committed to delivering excellence”

Vice-Chancellor Professor Maria Fasli said: “Like our partners in ResearchPlus, we are a university committed to delivering excellence in research and education. We are making an enormous contribution - regionally, nationally and internationally - to innovation and impact, knowledge exchange and research-informed education as well as to cultural and civic life, creativity, social inclusion and social mobility.

"ResearchPlus offers exciting opportunities for us to build on the huge potential to deliver the UK’s research, innovation and advanced skills agenda, allowing us to make an even greater contribution. By joining forces, with one voice, we will work better together.”

“Our intention is to grow the partnership”

A spokesperson for ResearchPlus said: “Currently, a significant number of research-focused universities are not aligned to any university mission group. This is a particular problem for the research and innovation challenges the UK faces. We cannot afford not to make the most of the UK’s research and innovation capabilities and capacities. 

“Through the creation of a new collaborative, ResearchPlus, leading research-focused universities can make a stronger collective contribution to public and policy debates on research and innovation, research-informed higher education, and advanced skills, supporting policymakers and public goals.

“Each ResearchPlus partner has outstanding research teams and specialist areas that are recognised as being amongst the very best in the world, attracting global talent in staff and students. Each is essential to the success of the industrial and business ecosystems, public services, and community and cultural life in their places. Together, they – and other similar universities – play the same role UK-wide. 

“Today we are announcing our initial group of ten partners. Our intention is to grow the partnership with other leading research-focused universities and to develop a programme of work and activities to support our goals.”

• ResearchPlus Vice-Chancellors set out their manifesto in a blog published by the Higher Education Policy Institute (HEPI)

Secretary of State welcomes ResearchPlus

Welcoming the formation of ResearchPlus, Secretary of State for Science, Innovation and Technology, the Rt Hon Peter Kyle MP said: “The UK is home to some of the best universities in the world, making ResearchPlus an exciting opportunity to bring that top talent together to solve challenges and unlock new innovations that improve lives across our country.

“By strengthening collaboration between universities, industry and government we can break down barriers to opportunity and work together to drive the economic growth that is central to the Government’s Plan for Change.”

ResearchPlus partners

The initial ResearchPlus partners are:

• Brunel University of London
• City St George’s, University of London
• Keele University
• Royal Holloway, University of London
• SOAS, University of London
• The University of Essex
• The University of Hull
• The Open University
• The University of Sussex
• Ulster University