INTRODUCTION

  Research, new technologies and ideas are crucial in the effort to eradicate poverty, tackle disease, and fight the impact of climate change in developing countries. Progress in medical science has led to the development of vaccines for diseases, progress in agriculture science has led to improving crop yields, and progress in information and communications technologies enables worldwide information sharing benefiting also developing countries.

  2.  The Government's 2006 White Paper Making Governance Work for the Poor emphasises the importance of new technologies, knowledge and evidence-based policies for development; it sets out that these are fundamental to growth and poverty reduction. DFID sees research as a vital tool to help deliver the internationally agreed Millennium Development Goals. That is why the White Paper announced a doubling of DFID's research budget from £110 million in 2005-06 to £220 million in 2010. Partnership with the UK Research Councils will be an important element in harnessing research to fight poverty. It brings the best of UK academic excellence to our work. It will also increase the linkage between developed and developing countries on research for global issues, such as climate change, which need global knowledge and solutions. Development science is broadly defined as "science with a direct or indirect potential to contribute to international agendas for development in the poorest countries of the world".

EMERGING IMPACT

  3.  Partnerships between DFID and UK Research councils are already showing success and demonstrating their value:

—  Research Councils' main focus is the UK and provision of research support to UK-based researchers. DFID's focus is poverty reduction with a focus on Africa and South Asia. Combined, the UK research base is better able to contribute to global issues related to development and DFID is able to draw on the world-class level of UK research expertise.

—  The schemes have a high volume of good quality applications, which effectively link development issues to UK expertise. This demonstrates strong demand for the schemes and the increase in UK academic focus on development issues.

—  Collaboration between the UK academic community and overseas counterparts is growing. This will help to increase the capacity of developing country researchers to do better research and increase the likely impact of research on development.

—  New partnerships between UK Universities and international development NGOs are emerging.

—  Developing countries are better able to access unique and long-term data sets held by Research Councils: vital to improved service delivery, for example in public health. For example research done at the MRC unit in the Gambia has informed the global Hib (a form of meningitis) vaccination programmes and has contributed to the elimination of Hib disease from the Gambia.

—  Increased focus on communicating research outputs to users: Research Councils are learning from DFID initiatives in this area ad sharing experiences with other researchers. This will result in the increased impact of research.

—  Working with Research Councils has enabled DFID to access technical expertise not available in-house.

—  Research Councils are better able to represent the UK internationally in the international development field.

COLLABORATIVE RESEARCH PROGRAMMES BETWEEN DFID CENTRAL RESEARCH AND RESEARCH COUNCILS

  4.  DFID has four existing partnership schemes with the UK Research Councils: Economic and Social Research Council (ESRC); Medical Research Council (MRC); Biotechnology and Biological Sciences Research Council (BSRC) and a joint scheme with National Environment Research Council (NERC) and ESRC.

—  The Economic and Social Research Council/DFID Scheme for Research on International Poverty, a new research grants scheme, was launched in August 2005. It funds world class scientific research that contributes to poverty reduction in developing countries. This joint scheme has a total budget of £13 million over four years, ending in 2010. DFID is contributing £7 million and ESRC £6 million to the scheme. Applications can be made by UK and non-UK institutions. There is much to indicate that the scheme has been a success to date and that more is yet to come. The scheme has developed over time through continuous learning between partners, and both ESRC and DFID have signalled a willingness in principle to consider a consolidated regular scheme. This decision will be made in the light of a mid-term review in 2007.

—  DFID has a longstanding concordat with the Medical Research Council, contributing approximately £4 million per year. The use of high quality biomedical and public health research generated through the programme will help to tackle health problems in developing countries. The concordat has built on previous work and ensures that there are good communication channels between MRC and DFID. The increased mutual understanding has enabled the Health Funders Forum (a meeting of organisations funding health research relevant to developing countries) to develop, and both organisations to represent each other if required at meetings etc. of joint interest. The Health Funders Forum includes DFID, Wellcome Trust, MRC and ESRC. We will review the model of collaboration during 2007. In addition DFID has two projects with MRC on HIV/AIDS: A £42 million Microbicides Development Partnerships programme of which MRC contribute £2 million; and anti-retrovirals therapies for adults and children—two £5 million programmes with the MRC contributing £2.5 million or higher.

—  DFID is working successfully with the Biotechnology and Biological Sciences Research Council (BBSRC) on the new £6 million programme on research on sustainable agriculture for international development. DFID contributes approximately two thirds of the funding. The first call of this programme was launched in September 2006 and provides grants to UK and non-UK researchers to generate new knowledge that contributes to growth and poverty reduction in developing countries. This programme forms an integral part of DFID's strategy for research on sustainable agriculture. Further joint programmes with research councils on agriculture and natural resource management are planned.

—  A £30 million climate change research programme on Eco-systems services was established in 2007 with the Natural Environment Research Council and ESRC. The idea of a collaboration on ecosystems and biodiversity has been endorsed in two cross-Whitehall groups: the Research Co-ordination Working Group of the Environment Research Funders Forum, and the Global Biodiversity Sub-Committee of the Global Environmental Change Committee. It will directly address HMT's policy challenge 5—the increasing pressures on natural resources and global climate from rapid economic and population growth in the developing world—and deliver against DFID's new White Paper commitments to (a) invest in science, technological advances and innovation to manage global environmental challenges; and (b) provide developing country governments with access to the best international expertise.

INDICATIVE STRENGTHS OF THE SCHEMES

  5.  Familiarity with the schemes extends beyond self-designated development studies departments and institutes. That is to be welcomed and, for example, the ESRC will seek to build upon this. However, though well-established in the UK, much remains to be done on the international front, especially with regard to developing-country participation.

  6.  The ESRC/DFID scheme has been very important in adding an impetus to a debate that had started in the research community about where international development research had reached, and where it should be going. It has stoked the debate already underway about the perceived tension between intellectual innovation and rigour on the one hand, and impact of research results. DFID requires impact on poverty reduction and policy relevance to be demonstrated in the schemes.

  7.  Outside the UK, there is considerable interest in the ESRC scheme amongst other national and international agencies, both research and development aid agencies. It is recognised that this model of collaborative working is innovative in attempting to bridge the agendas of both research and development aid agencies.

  8.  Relationships with the MRC continue to evolve and this has been important, for instance in the setting up of the European and Developing Countries Clinical Trials Partnership (EDCTP). MRC is the UK representative on this body and has worked closely with DFID to identify the research that can be "counted" towards member states' contributions to developing-country research. Continued close working is essential for the development of EDCTP.

  9.  DFID is committed to partnerships with the Research Councils, building on success of MRC and ESRC programmes.

OTHER COLLABORATIONS

  10.  Following the recommendations of the House of Commons Science and Technology Select Committee report The use of science in UK international development policy (2004), the UK is strengthening the link between technology innovation and international development. DFID has become increasingly active in UK scientific fora to give a development perspective to UK-funded research and new technologies, and the Research Councils have become increasingly interested in development—recognising the value of their global research to the development agenda.

  11.  The UK Collaborative on Development Science (UK-CDS), announced in December 2006 as a recommendation of the Development Sciences Working Group (DSWG) chaired by Sir David King, will bring together the main UK funders and stakeholders who support the UK development sciences research base and will create a framework for a more co-ordinated approach to development sciences research in the UK (and monitor its "health"). It will also provide a link with the European Commission Research Framework Programme. Its Steering Board will initially comprise the Office of Science and Innovation (OSI), the Department of Health, the Research Councils, the Wellcome Trust and DFID. DFID will contribute to the running costs of the Collaborative through the UK CDS secretariat. The Secretariat will play a pivotal role in establishing, directing and managing the Collaborative's work and the relationship between its members.

May 2007