Statement on the Research Excellence Framework proposals The latest proposal by the higher education funding councils is If implemented, these proposals risk undermining support for for 25% of the new Research Excellence Framework (REF) to basic research across all disciplines and may well lead to an be assessed according to 'economic and social impact'. As academic brain drain to countries such as the United States academics, researchers and higher education professionals we that continue to value fundamental research. believe that it is counterproductive to make funding for the best research conditional on its perceived economic and social Universities must continue to be spaces in which the spirit of benefits. adventure thrives and where researchers enjoy academic freedom to push back the boundaries of knowledge in their The REF proposals are founded on a lack of understanding of disciplines. how knowledge advances. It is often difficult to predict which research will create the greatest practical impact. History We, therefore, call on the UK funding councils to shows us that in many instances it is curiosity-driven research withdraw the current REF proposals and to work with that has led to major scientific and cultural advances. academics and researchers on creating a funding regime which supports and fosters basic research in our universities and colleges rather than discourages it. Signed: Name Institution Relevant titles/positions Sir Tim Hunt Cancer Research UK FRS, Nobel Laureate 2001 Professor John Dainton University of Liverpool Fellow of the Royal Society Fellow of the Institute of Physics Fellow of the Royal Society for the encouragement of Arts, Manufactures and Commerce (RSA) Name Institution Relevant titles/positions Professor Venki Ramakrishnan University of Cambridge FRS, Nobel Prize in Chemistry Professor Brian Josephson University of Cambridge Nobel Laureate in Physics Professor Harry Kroto The Florida State University FRS Professor Donald W Braben UCL Sir John Walker Medical Research Council and University of FRS, F. Med. Sci., Foreign Associate US Cambridge National Academy of Sciences, Nobel Laureate in Chemistry Professor Richard Dawkins University of Oxford FRS, FRSL Dr Peter A Lawrence University of Cambridge FRS Professor Judith Driscoll University of Cambridge Fellow of Institute of Physics, Member of Institute of Materials Professor Leslie Ann Goldberg University of Liverpool Dr Valentina Tamma University of Liverpool Dr Piotr Jan Krysta University of Liverpool Professor Michael Fisher University of Liverpool Sir Richard J Roberts New England Biolabs 1993 Nobel Prize winner in Physiology or Medicine Dr Martin Gairing University of Liverpool Dr Michele Zito University of Liverpool Dr Paul E. Dunne University of Liverpool Dr Carmine Ventre University of Liverpool Dr Vladimir Sazonov University of Liverpool, Computer Science Department Professor Pat Heslop-Harrison University of Leicester Member, Society for Experimental Biology (President, signing personally) Member, European Cytogeneticists Association (Board member, signing personally) Dr Floriana Grasso University of Liverpool Dr David Ray BioAstral Limited Dr Ullrich Hustadt University of Liverpool Dr Prudence Wong University of Liverpool Dr Louise Abigail Dennis University of Liverpool Secretary for the Society for the Study of Artificial Intelligence and the Simulation of Behaviour Member of the British Computer Society - the Chartered Institute for IT Professor Paul Hugh Leng Liverpool University Fellow of the British Computer Society 2 Name Institution Relevant titles/positions Dr Boris Konev Liverpool University Lecturer Philip Moriarty University of Nottingham Professor Paul Goldberg University of Liverpool Professor Mel Slater University College London Professor Andrew Adamatzky University of the West of England, Bristol Professor Wiebe van der Hoek University of Liverpool Fellow of the BCS Dr Garcìa-Fiñana University of Liverpool Dr Peter Wood Birkbeck, University of London Dr Igor Potapov University of Liverpool Dr Thorsten Altenkirch University of Nottingham Professor Aaron Sloman University of Birmingham Fellow of AAAI, AISB, ECCAI Hon DSc univ. of Sussex 2006 Rhodes Scholar 1957 Researcher in Philosophy, Artificial Intelligence, Cognitive Science, Theoretical Biology (evolution of cogniton). Professor Darren Dalcher Middlesex University FBCS CITP FAPM Professor Lee Cronin The University of Glasgow FRSE Professor Victor Goryunov University of Liverpool Professor Glynn Winskel University of Cambridge Professor Hussein Zedan De Montfort University Professor Timothy James Forester Norman University of Aberdeen Dr Jonathan Woolf University of Liverpool Professor David Richard Timothy Jones Liverpool University Professor Lawrence Paulson University of Cambridge ACM Fellow Dr Russell Martin University of Liverpool Dr Martin Ward De Montfort University Royal Society Industry Fellow Professor Peter Edward Newstead University of Liverpool Professor Vadim N. Biktashev University of Liverpool Professor Costas Iliopoulos King's College London Dr Sven Schewe University of Liverpool Professor Iain Stewart Durham University Member of UKCRC, Fellow of the British Computer Society Professor John Peter FITCH University of Bath Professor Frank Wolter University of Liverpool Dr Alessio Guglielmi University of Bath Research Director, INRIA Nancy-Grand Est, France Dr Piunovskiy Alexey The University of Liverpool Member of the OR Society and of the AMS. 3 Name Institution Relevant titles/positions Professor Barry Supple University of Cambridge Sometime Director, Leverhulme Trust; sometime member of ESRC Council; Fellow of the British Academy Dr Peter Kirby University of Manchester Professor Hajo Broersma Durham University Professor Richard Hugh Britnell University of Durham F.R.H.S., F.B.A. Dr Raphael Clifford Bristol University Professor Liam Kennedy Queen's University Belfast Fellow of the Royal Historical Society; Fellow of the Society of Arts Dr Stephen Mossman University of Manchester Professor John Hatcher University of Cambridge Professor Rajeev Raman University of Leicester Dr Keith Robin McLean University of Liverpool Professor Robin Pearson University of Hull Dr Natalie Zacek University of Manchester Professor James University of Bristol Professor William David Rubinstein University of Aberystwyth Professor Jawed Siddiqi Sheffield Hallam Dr Damian Clancy University of Liverpool Dr Peter Matthews Durham University MIET FRSA Professor Sir Tony Wrigley University of Cambridge Fellow of the British Academy Professor Philip Patrick Allport University of Liverpool Chair HEPP Committee of the IoP Dr Chris Groves Durham University Professor Michael Andrew Parker Cambridge Fellow of Institute of Physics Professor Philip Harris University of Sussex Dr Alan Trevor Watson University of Birmingham Mr Simon Davies University of Sussex Professor Anthony J. Horsewill University of Nottingham Professor Neil Spooner University of Sheffield Head of Particle Physics, University of Sheffield Mr Paul Cecil University of Sussex John Gribbin University of Sussex Dr Mark Hodgkinson University of Sheffield Dr Jeffrey Hartnell University of Sussex AMInstP Miss Kate Shaw University of Sheffield Dr Christopher Booth University of Sheffield Professor Angus Macintyre Queen Mary University of London FRS, FRSE 4 Name Institution Relevant titles/positions Dr Mark Hindmarsh University of Sussex Professor S. Jay Kleinberg Brunel University FRSA, AcSS, Editor, History of Women in the Americas; Chair, British Historians of Women in the Americas; Director, Centre for American, Trans-Atlantic, and Caribbean History Dr Vitaly Kudryavtsev University of Sheffield Darren John White University of Sheffield Dr Tom Friedetzky Durham University Dr Beatrice Pelloni University of reading member of the London Mathematical Society and the American Mathematical Society Mr SAM NAEF Sussex University Dr Robert Smith University of Sussex Dr Anna Pratoussevitch University of Liverpool Dr James Marshall University of Bristol Dr Helen Julia Paul University of Southampton Member of Council of Economic History Society Professor Paul Fraser Harrison University of Warwick Dr Armin Reichold Oxford University and Balliol College Reader in Physics Dr Simon Higgins University of Liverpool Professor Roger David Price Aberystwyth University Miss Marie Suzanne Rider University of Sussex Mr Paul Davies IP19 0AR Professor Michael Duff Imperial College London FRS F Inst P FRSA Professor Steven PR Rose Open University Emeritus professor, also Emeritus professor at Gresham College Professor David Phillip Woodruff University of Warwick FRS Dr Thomas Teubner University of Liverpool Professor Dan Tovey University of Sheffield Dr Andrei Krokhin Durham University Dr Andrew Blake University of Cambridge Dr Mikhail Titov Heriot-Watt University Dr Ian Dawson University of Sheffield Professor Bruce M S Campbell The Queen's University of Belfast AcSS, FRHS, MRIA, FBA Dr Alfons Weber University of Oxford Professor Philip Bulman Page University of East Anglia 5 Name Institution Relevant titles/positions Dr Daniel Paulusma Durham University Professor Alexandre Borovik University of Manchester Professor Artur Czumaj University of Warwick Dr Marcus Tressl The University of Manchester Dr Charles Eaton University of Manchester Dr Hugo Kjell Christenson University of Leeds Professor Richard Sharp University of Manchester Dr Rachel Bearon University of Liverpool Dr James Sharp University of Nottingham Professor Tim Greenshaw Liverpool