An investment in helping secure the future of the UK as a scientific powerhouse today sees The Medical Research Council (MRC), Cancer Research UK (CRUK) and Wellcome come together to unveil £1 billion in funding for the Francis Crick Institute (FCI).
The Crick’s mission is ‘discovery without boundaries’, to carry out world-class discovery research to understand how living things work and to drive benefits for human health.
The new investment is set to fund the institute for the next seven years.
Mentioning the UK’s “impressive legacy” in the life sciences, Business Secretary Kwasi Kwarteng said he was “thrilled that the Government has been able to make a significant contribution to this £1bn investment for the brilliant Francis Crick Institute”.
He added: “This funding will support the outstanding research they do to advance biomedical discovery and develop new approaches to tackling disease, strengthening the UK’s future as a science superpower.”
Sir Paul Nurse, director of FCI, said: “This is an investment that promotes UK science. The Government has recognised the need to expand research budgets, because our future relies on it.”
Speaking on The Today programme Sir Paul added that UK investment in science is at the bottom of the league table of advanced nations and that this is something Tory leadership contenders should address. Former Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State for Science, Research and Innovation, George Freeman, shared that he was in agreement with Sir Paul via his Twitter account.
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