Basic figures

With 1% of the world's population, the UK

			funds 5% of the world's science;
			produces 8% of all the world's scientific papers;
			gets 9% of scientific citations.

The government’s science budget is currently increasing by 7% a year in real terms.

For comprehensive information on expenditure on science, engineering and technology in the UK, look at the Office of Science and Technology's  SET Indicators  

If you want a comprehensive guide to how Science, Engineering and UK technology is structure go to our special guide GOST.

Public sector funded research
In the UK, much of the research funded by the public sector is carried out in the universities.  To get an overview of the location of universities and other higher education institutions, look at this useful map

And you can also access information about how different university departments have been rated for their research performance

The periodic RAE (Research Assessment Exercise) gives ratings on a scale ranging from 1 (worst) to 5* (best).  Check out  where the Manchester Uniteds, Arsenals and Liverpools of UK science are to be found

We have more information on quality assessment issues in higher education

Who else funds UK research?
But don’t be misled into thinking that all UK research is carried out in universities.  The private sector is a major player, too – particular strengths are in pharmaceuticals, biotechnology and aerospace.  And one of the special characteristics of the UK’s research system is the role played by charities.

The Wellcome Trust – which has no links with the leading UK-based pharmaceutical company GlaxoSmithKline – is the world’s largest medical research charity funding research into animal and human health; it also runs major research institutes of its own.

Another example :  two of the UK’s most recent Nobel laureates (Paul Nurse and Tim Hunt – Medicine 2001) have carried out their research in the laboratories of Cancer Research UK. This is the country’s leading cancer research charity and was formed by the merger of the Cancer Research Campaign and the Imperial Cancer Research Fund in February 2002.