Impact evaluation of UKRI’s R&I funding response to COVID-19 - Final report

The prior existence of various networks and world-class centres of excellence made a substantial contribution to the speed and quality of the work carried out which contributed to the uptake of early results by policymakers. [...] to support the major known groups and institutes capable of delivering the immediate research and innovation needs of a pandemic response such as diagnostics, clinical trials and therapeutics, but also to enable individuals, groups and institutes across the entire research and innovation base to identify themselves and their ability to contribute research to the crisis at hand. [...] The rapid nature of this generation and availability of data and insights was also possible due to (i) the ability of ‘pivoting’ established centre staff, (ii) repurposing of existing platforms and building on prior research, and (iii) the existence of researcher links to government advisory groups and public health bodies, alongside the commitment and efforts of each of the research groups and th. [...] Each of these thematic case studies highlights the substantial impact of UKRI-investments, often on highly prominent developments and policy decisions, including supporting the early development of the Oxford/AstraZeneca vaccine in partnership with NIHR, and informing decisions around the introduction and relaxation of national and regional lockdowns, and the Coronavirus Job Retention Scheme (‘fur. [...] Researchers provided Understanding Society survey data to inform the work of its Monetary Policy near real-time data on the Committee and the Financial Policy Committee.33 The Bank of England economy, informed the change Monetary Policy Committee sets monetary policy to keep inflation low and in the design of CJRS to make it stable.