Question to the Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy:
To ask Her Majesty's Government (1) how much they have spent on mathematical sciences at higher education institutions in the UK, and (2) how this compares to the international average.
The UK is a world leader in Mathematics, accounting for the 5th largest share of publications but the third largest share of the top 1% and 10% most cited publications.
Between Financial Year 2015-2016 and September 2021, EPSRC committed £259.9m to research grants Mathematical Sciences. This includes commitment from the Additional Funding Programme. At this current time, EPSRC are unable to make a direct comparison to international averages.
Following the Government’s announcement in January 2020 to invest additional funding into Mathematical Sciences, UKRI has awarded around £104 million of additional funding to the discipline, over and above EPSRC’s core Mathematical Sciences Theme budget. The additional funding has covered institutes, small and large research grants, fellowships, doctoral studentships and postdoctoral awards.
On the 27 October 2021, the Government will announce the outcome of the Comprehensive Spending Review. Once that has concluded, BEIS and UKRI will set out how we meet the commitment to invest additional funding into Mathematical sciences in forthcoming years, as part of the allocations process.