Question to the Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy:

To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy, what steps his Department is planning to take to help ensure that the number of students undertaking PhD research in mathematics is sustained.

The UK is a world leader in Mathematics. British mathematicians publish a large volume of highly regarded work. When compared to international colleagues, British mathematicians have the 5th largest share of publications in the world. When looking at the top 1% of most cited publications, UK mathematicians are responsible for the third largest share.

Since January 2020, UKRI has awarded £104 million of additional funding into Mathematical Sciences, over and above EPSRC’s core Mathematical Sciences Theme budget. The additional funding has funded institutes, small and large research grants, fellowships, doctoral studentships, and postdoctoral awards.

Following the SR, BEIS will set R&D budgets through to 2024/25. Further details of how this funding will be allocated will be announced in due course.