BRITAIN'S research councils distribute the country's £1.3 billion science budget. But their traditional independence is slowly being whittled away as Whitehall gains an ever stronger grip on research spending.
The possibility of a shift in emphasis away from pure science to more applied research has already caused much angst among scientists. But is more fundamental change afoot? Some researchers suspect that Whitehall has a hidden agenda. Should the research councils simply exist to carry out government policy?
The British system of research councils was introduced in 1918 by Lord Haldane as a way of pumping government money into research without having to sacrifice academic independence or scientific integrity. The Haldane principle that scientists are in a better position to make decisions about research than politicians has dominated research policy ever since. "The thinking behind the creation of these councils," wrote Lord Hailsham in his 1963 book Science and Politics, "is ...
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