British Academy comments on the Government’s Minimum Grant Standards Framework

British Academy Chief Executive Alun Evans has given a qualified welcome to today’s announcement from the Cabinet Office and BEIS of a new Minimum Grant Standards Framework. He said:

"The British Academy is pleased to see that today’s announcement on the new Minimum Grant Standards Framework incorporates the guarantees that were given by Ministers in April this year, prior to the dropping of their potentially damaging Anti-Lobbying proposals. It is part of the DNA of an open, democratic society that it protects the freedom of academic researchers and scholars to present the evidence of their impartial, robust research to fellow experts, to the public and to government. Good, informed policy making depends on this freedom.

“It is therefore good news to see the Government clarify that science and research bodies, including the National Academies, will not be prevented from sharing the findings of the research they fund and generate, widely and openly. As the Academy said in April, it is vital that researchers remain free to choose their topics, to follow where the evidence takes them, and to communicate their findings.”