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Kieron Flanagan @kieronflanagan.bsky.social · 24d

Tremendous long read from @jenwilliamsft.bsky.social in the FT on the mysterious owner of the notorious Brittania Hotels group, Alex Langsam. on.ft.com/46B1bhO

The crumbling seaside palaces at the centre of Britain’s asylum crisis

How one hotelier built an empire from beloved community assets — and a government struggling to cope with a surge in migration

on.ft.com

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Kieron Flanagan @kieronflanagan.bsky.social · Sep 5

(I appreciate this is not the biggest news breaking right now)

Kieron Flanagan @kieronflanagan.bsky.social · Sep 5

It should have been the elephant in the room, yet I am always struck by how few link discussion of the design and operation of the exercise and the allocation philosophy and process.

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Kieron Flanagan @kieronflanagan.bsky.social · Sep 5

The REF announcement is really interesting, including because This is all very interesting, and in particular this:

I can’t recall the funding allocation mechanism (for England, which is already under review) being so explicitly discussed as part of the REF design before now.

Wonkhe @wonkhe.bsky.social · Sep 5

NEW on Wonkhe: Two-tier research? bit.ly/47plTlN

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Kieron Flanagan @kieronflanagan.bsky.social · Jul 9

Are UK universities doing too much research? If so, what should we do about it? Debates about how to address the financial sustainability of university research have a familiar ring to them, as I write in @resprofnews.bsky.social

www.researchprofessionalnews.com/rr-news-poli...

#scipolicy

Research leaders’ deficit fixes are a 1980s tribute act - Research Professional News

Government’s priorities cast old debates about concentrating resources in a new light, says Kieron Flanagan

www.researchprofessionalnews.com

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Reposted by Kieron Flanagan

Adam Brown @adamlbrown.bsky.social · Jul 2

A major new report published for anyone interested in #innovation, #productivity, #industrialstrategy, #econsky. I'll now do a short thread that pulls out the main findings and recommendations...

The British Academy @britishacademy.bsky.social · Jul 2

The British Academy and @sciencecampaign.bsky.social commissioned Cambridge Econometrics to conduct a systems-based analysis of the strengths and weaknesses within the UK’s innovation system.

Read the full report: www.thebritishacademy.ac.uk/publications...

Research Professional News @resprofnews.bsky.social · Jul 2

The UK needs many industrial strategies.

Smarter growth begins with understanding value chains in innovation, say Daniel Rathbone and Eleanor Hopkins.

www.researchprofessionalnews.com/rr-news-uk-v...

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Kieron Flanagan @kieronflanagan.bsky.social · Jul 2

‘Computer says no’ in UK policy often boils down to ‘we already tried that and it failed’ in which half hearted and short term policy interventions that unsurprisingly failed are then used to justify future inaction for ever after

Kieron Flanagan @kieronflanagan.bsky.social · Jun 30

Indeed!

Kieron Flanagan @kieronflanagan.bsky.social · Jun 30

...but this is an issue not just for science and innovation policy groups within business schools, but for research in business and management more generally, which to many observers seems to be getting further and further away from any real policy or economy relevance)

Kieron Flanagan @kieronflanagan.bsky.social · Jun 30

(...Although there is a legitimate question about the effects of research assessment (RAE/REF + lists) and, ironically, the desire of business and management studies to be more 'scientific', in pushing research attention away from relevance and towards questions of rather abstract theory...

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Kieron Flanagan @kieronflanagan.bsky.social · Jun 30

(As an aside, this means that it's a little ahistorical to suggest, as the authors do, that @mioir.bsky.social being based in @alliancembs.bsky.social has somehow diluted our interest in science, given our part origin in the newly-founded Manchester Business School)

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Kieron Flanagan @kieronflanagan.bsky.social · Jun 30

And the foundation of the R&D Research Unit by Alan Pearson at the then new Manchester Business School in 1967, off the back of a grant from Harold Wilson's Ministry of Technology. (which led to the R&D Management journal and conference).

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Kieron Flanagan @kieronflanagan.bsky.social · Jun 30

(It's also worth noting the role history of science and history of technology have played in at Manchester, e.g. through the work of Donald Cardwell at UMIST (from 1963) and, a little later, John Pickstone at the Victoria University of Manchester.)

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Kieron Flanagan @kieronflanagan.bsky.social · Jun 30

The history of science & innovation studies at Manchester stretches back further than 1977! Dept of Liberal Studies in Science founded in 65-6, but even before that there was important work on science policy by Michael Polanyi, and on innovation by John Jewkes, Charles Carter and Bruce Williams.

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Kieron Flanagan @kieronflanagan.bsky.social · Jun 30

Really interesting history piece accompanying launch of the UK #Metascience Unit's first report by @rorinstitute.bsky.social's James Wilsdon, @ludowaltman.bsky.social, Andre Brasil and the unit's own Ben Steyn

assets.publishing.service.gov.uk/media/685bcd...

One small correction though...

assets.publishing.service.gov.uk

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Kieron Flanagan @kieronflanagan.bsky.social · Jun 20

Looks great!

Diane Coyle @dianecoyle1859.bsky.social · Jun 20

This is what I'm up to next week: www.phil.uni-bayreuth.de/en/events/wi...

Wittgenstein Lectures

Universität Bayreuth

www.phil.uni-bayreuth.de

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Kieron Flanagan @kieronflanagan.bsky.social · Jun 20

Interesting anecdote in this article on comments about potential future changes in UKRI's stance towards AI in the application/review process in Research Professional...

www.researchprofessional.com/0/rr/news/uk...

Image of an excerpt from the article, which reads: 'I've now seen the first instance of someone sitting there listening to a question, typing, then reading the answer off the screen' Dracott noted, adding the individual 'did not get the fellowship'

Reposted by Kieron Flanagan

Cyrus Mody @ccmmody.bsky.social · Jun 20

honored to join this @historyofscience.bsky.social roundtable @kathrynolesko.bsky.social's invitation. my contribution "Make Silicon Valley Boring Again!" argues that today's broligarchs aren't just aberrant relative to you & me, but even relative to the history of Silicon Valley...

Kathryn Olesko @kathrynolesko.bsky.social · Jun 20

I ask my new + old followers to circulate this open access roundtable onAmerican science. Please repost! We in the USA are losing our lead in scientific research due to totalitarian tendencies in the current administration. This loss will affect all of us.
journals.sagepub.com/doi/10.1177/...

The crisis in American science - Kathryn M. Olesko, Anthony Eames, Cyrus C. M. Mody, Ilana Löwy, Thomas Zeller, Mark Walker, Mitchell G. Ash, Donna Haraway, 2025

The second regime of Donald J. Trump has decimated federal science and federally supported science to a greater degree than his first regime, unleashing an unpr...

journals.sagepub.com

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Kieron Flanagan @kieronflanagan.bsky.social · Jun 20

a woman is looking at herself in the mirror .

ALT: a woman is looking at herself in the mirror .

media.tenor.com

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Kieron Flanagan @kieronflanagan.bsky.social · Jun 20

This is a very 1980s #scipolicy debate! (Apologies for the @nature.com firewall, which seems bizarre for a short news article from 1987)

www.nature.com/articles/328...

Photo of a part of a Nature article from 1987 describing proposals to divide the UK university system into teaching only and research universities.

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Kieron Flanagan @kieronflanagan.bsky.social · Jun 20

You can download the report itself here: research.manchester.ac.uk/en/publicati...

EUROPEAN RESEARCH SECURITY: THREAT PERSPECTIVES AND THE RESPONSES OF POLICY MAKERS AND RESEARCH PERFORMING ORGANISATIONS

research.manchester.ac.uk

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Kieron Flanagan @kieronflanagan.bsky.social · Jun 20

Security fears are creating new pressures and expectations on national research systems across Europe. My @mioir.bsky.social colleague Andrew James and I have written a piece for @resprofnews.bsky.social summarising some key findings from our new report on the topic.
#scipolicy #security

Research security in Europe needs a more coordinated approach - Research Professional News

Survey of national efforts reveals uneven but developing picture, say Andrew James and Kieron Flanagan

www.researchprofessionalnews.com

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Kieron Flanagan @kieronflanagan.bsky.social · Jun 16

(The Council lasted barely 5 years in its purpose built Terry Farrell designed joint UK headquarters building before moving to cheaper accommodation because of cost pressures…)

www.estatesgazette.co.uk/news/british...

British Council set for Bridgewater House relocation in Manchester

The British Council is poised to quit its purpose-built headquarters in City Road, Manchester, in favour of cheaper space at Bridgewater House, in nearby Whitworth Street.

www.estatesgazette.co.uk

Kieron Flanagan @kieronflanagan.bsky.social · Jun 16

A cautionary tale for today’s public sector relocations? This was one of the flagship relocations of the early 90s - starchitect building and all. Of course the relocation itself was essentially driven by the need to cut costs…

www.manchestereveningnews.co.uk/news/greater...

Fury after organisation based in Manchester for 75 years shuts office

The British Council has closed its Whitworth Street office

www.manchestereveningnews.co.uk

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Kieron Flanagan @kieronflanagan.bsky.social · Jun 4

You can read our full analysis and our country case studies, here: bit.ly/4kLbXGt

Co-authors were Andrew James, @alicenaisbitt.bsky.social and John Rigby. Thanks to the UK Science and Technology Network for funding the study.

EUROPEAN RESEARCH SECURITY: THREAT PERSPECTIVES AND THE RESPONSES OF POLICY MAKERS AND RESEARCH PERFORMING ORGANISATIONS

bit.ly

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