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Ben Johnson

@ersatzben.com
855 followers 691 following 131 posts

Co-Director, Science Works. Professor at University of Strathclyde. Former UK govt adviser on science and tech policy. Personal views.

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Ben Johnson @ersatzben.com · 20/07/2026
Good news about Kaniskha Narayan. Silver lining for UK tech.
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Ben Johnson @ersatzben.com · 20/07/2026
Sunday: an LLM disproves an 87-year-old mathematics conjecture, seemingly on the prompter's whim Monday: the UK govt dept responsible for thinking strategically about AI + research in the round is disbanded, seemingly over a petty civil service turf war. Good one. 🇬🇧🦶🔫
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Ben Johnson @ersatzben.com · 26/06/2026
➡️ PLEASE SHARE ➡️ Do you work for an research organisation, or a lab/unit within a larger org, that is doing something different from the mainstream academic model? We would love to hear from you: docs.google.com/forms/d/e/1F...
docs.google.com
Reorganising Research: Call for Evidence
Science Works is collaborating with the Wellcome Trust on a joint scoping exercise to uncover examples of labs, departments, institutes, programmes, and funding architectures across the UK research sy...
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Chris Parr @chrisjparr.bsky.social · 23/06/2026
Excellent from @johnmorgan3.bsky.social, with typically astute insights from @andywestwood.bsky.social, @ersatzben.com and @richardaljones.bsky.social.
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Ben Johnson @ersatzben.com · 23/06/2026
“Manchesterism” is going national. What might a Burnham premiership mean for science? Devolved R&D? There are opportunities & risks. We’ve been thinking about this at @science.works – here’s a taster of our thinking… 🧵
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Kirsty Grainger @kirstygrainger.bsky.social · 20/06/2026
Passing on a chuckle from my morning. The @ukri.org main office is in Swindon. Their new buckets system was introduced late 2025. There is an Indie Band formed in 2025 from Swindon called..... Bucket Fight! www.swindonadvertiser.co.uk/news/2621200...
swindonadvertiser.co.uk
Two indie rock bands to bring 'epic' live show to Swindon pub
Foot-stomping indie rock comes to The Victoria with The Pavilion & Bucket Fight
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Ben Johnson @ersatzben.com · 19/06/2026
Announcement: am launching @science.works -- a new org to accelerate UK R&D. A post to explain why I think a new org is needed: www.ersatzben.com/p/introducin... £3k essay prize and call for evidence open now at science.works
ersatzben.com
Introducing Science Works
Why I think a new organisation is needed to tackle the most pressing challenges facing British science and tech
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UK Research and Innovation @ukri.org · 27/03/2026
This letter followed evidence given by STFC Executive Chair Michele Dougherty to the Committee on 4 March. Today, our response to the letter has been published on the Committee's webpage. In the interest of openness and transparency UKRI is also publishing it here: www.ukri.org/publications...
ukri.org
19 March 2026: UKRI and DSIT respond to Select Committee letter
Professor Sir Ian Chapman and Lord Vallance respond to a letter from the Chair of the House of Commons Science, Innovation and Technology Committee.
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Ben Johnson @ersatzben.com · 27/03/2026
National 'missions' are easy to announce (or propose). But history shows that they are extraordinarily difficult to pull off. Laura Ryan and I have pooled our thoughts about the government's 'AI for Science' missions – and what has to be true for this programme to be a success. 🔗👇
betterscienceproject.substack.com
How not to waste an AI for science mission
On the regrettable necessity of thinking carefully before spending public money
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Richard Jones @richardaljones.bsky.social · 15/03/2026
For more than a decade, there’s been a cross-party consensus behind increasing the UK govt’s R&D spending to drive economic growth - & there’s been a substantial real terms increase in the science budget. But the economic growth hasn’t arrived, yet. What happens if it doesn’t?
UK government R&D spending in real terms
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Ben Johnson @ersatzben.com · 03/03/2026
More stuff for fans of 'bucket theory' to chew over: committees.parliament.uk/committee/13...
committees.parliament.uk
UKRI shares first detailed comparisons of past and future spending under new ‘bucket’ model - Committees - UK Parliament
Professor Sir Ian Chapman, Chief Executive of UKRI, has written to the Committee Chair, Dame Chi Onwurah, to provide previously unavailable information about its new 'bucket'-led approach to funding r...
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Ben Johnson @ersatzben.com · 14/02/2026
I've written about the UKRI funding situation and the 'buckets' explainer, looking in detail at QR, STFC and Quantum. www.ersatzben.com/p/the-bucket...
ersatzben.com
The Bucket Stops Here
UKRI’s new funding framework takes a stab at classifying budgets – but doesn’t yet govern research
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Ben Johnson @ersatzben.com · 08/02/2026
This is one of the absolute best things I’ve read on the potential impacts of AI on society and democracy. Forensic, principled, and sober. Bravo, @williamcb.bsky.social!!
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Ben Johnson @ersatzben.com · 06/02/2026
Looking again at the UKRI funding 'buckets', I find it weird that QR has been put into 'Bucket 1' (curiosity-driven research), given that it supports a range of activity across all buckets, and REF does not only measure 'curiosity'.
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Paul Nightingale @paulnightingale.bsky.social · 01/02/2026
Quick science policy thread 1 Changes in the governance of UK science since the mid 1980s make it extremely hard to be strategic (that was the point), in terms of both process (dropped) and capability (hollowed out).
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Ben Johnson @ersatzben.com · 01/02/2026
This is a very good letter.
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Stian Westlake @stianwestlake.bsky.social · 06/01/2026
A little highlight of the new year for me is @igmansfield.bsky.social's forecasting contest. You can enter here, until 18 January! www.edrith.co.uk/p/2026-forec...
edrith.co.uk
2026 Forecasting Contest
A forecasting contest for 2026, featuring UK politics and global events.
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Ben Johnson @ersatzben.com · 16/12/2025
My unpopular opinion: Erasmus+ is an elitist waste of money that only benefits young adults that have already “won” by (a) making it to university, and (b) having the plummy, ski-seasoned social capital to have heard of the scheme in the first place.
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Ben Johnson @ersatzben.com · 18/11/2025
The government has talked about organising R&D into three 'buckets' - discovery research, research aligned to government priorities, and business support. This is a good idea that could fail in the implementation. Here are my 10 tests for success: www.ersatzben.com/p/the-three-...
ersatzben.com
The three-bucket problem
Ten tests for the UK’s new R&D funding framework
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Ben Johnson @ersatzben.com · 30/10/2025
I’ll do a detailed Substack take on the DSIT R&D allocations soon — but, on the surface read, it looks like positive news on funding levels and prioritisation. Outstanding Qs: intra-UKRI allocs (esp Dual Support); OLS-IS vfm; ARIA ramp-up readiness; AI implementation pathway
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Ben Johnson @ersatzben.com · 22/10/2025
Some quick thoughts on the UK post-16 white paper's implications for research: www.ersatzben.com/p/uk-post-16...
ersatzben.com
UK Post-16 White Paper – implications for research
Some quick thoughts.
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Ben Johnson @ersatzben.com · 03/09/2025
Delighted to be a winner in the latest round of Emergent Ventures! marginalrevolution.com/marginalrevo... I will be pursuing R&D data analytics for policy, building on the work I've been doing on interdisciplinary metrics.
marginalrevolution.com
Emergent Ventures winners, 46th cohort - Marginal REVOLUTION
William Wu, NoVa, piano, Prokofiev and Rachmaninoff. Olga Niekrasova, Kyiv, animated film. Anhelina Leshak, Ukraine/GWU, general career support. Myles Fritts, Florida, fish and genetics. Luzia Bruckam...
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Christopher Smith @christophersmith.bsky.social · 01/09/2025
@ersatzben.bsky.social asks for #Science policy not to weaken standards, but rather to rediscover a form of democratic splendour: demonstration statecraft that inspires awe by visibly delivering on ambitious goals.
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Rory Byrne @rory.bio · 01/09/2025
A great piece from @ersatzben.bsky.social on the importance of bold, aesthetic, mission-oriented directions in publicly funded research. betterscienceproject.substack.com/p/the-counte...
betterscienceproject.substack.com
The Counter-Reformation of science: how to make magnificence democratic
British research has perfected discipline and outsourced magnificence. The fix is to practise demonstration statecraft – visible proofs of capacity that pair theatre with delivery.
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Ben Johnson @ersatzben.com · 01/09/2025
British research has perfected discipline and outsourced magnificence. The fix is to practise demonstration statecraft – visible proofs of capacity that pair theatre with delivery. A new essay by me for the Better Science Project: betterscienceproject.substack.com/p/the-counte...
betterscienceproject.substack.com
The Counter-Reformation of science: how to make magnificence democratic
British research has perfected discipline and outsourced magnificence. The fix is to practise demonstration statecraft – visible proofs of capacity that pair theatre with delivery.
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James O'Malley @jamesomalley.co.uk · 03/08/2025
What if – hear me out – some people just sincerely think digital ID would be a good idea for public policy and that the trade-off with civil liberties is worth taking, and a weird quasi-conspiracy isn't required?
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Hetan Shah @hetanshah.bsky.social · 31/07/2025
Do feed into this very interesting project looking at the different available R&D interventions
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Ben Johnson @ersatzben.com · 31/07/2025
🚨🔧 NEW R&D POLICY TOOLKIT LAUNCHED 🪏🚨 Excited to launch a new @BritishProgress product: an interactive toolkit for UK R&D analysts and policymakers! 🔗 rd-toolkit.britishprogress.org Thread below🧵
rd-toolkit.britishprogress.org
UK R&D Policy Toolkit
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Ben Johnson @ersatzben.com · 21/07/2025
🚨 NEW REPORT 🚨 The Alan Turing Institute has visibly struggled, and is now at a critical juncture. The Secretary of State has intervened. What happens next? A new report for @britishprogress.bsky.social by me and @jujulemons.bsky.social sets out a plan: 🧵
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Stian Westlake @stianwestlake.bsky.social · 16/07/2025
Open Philanthropy have been a terrific partner in the work of the UK Metascience Unit. Two things I’d mention in particular: (a) the very high quality of the metascience work OP do on their own account (eg Matt Clancy’s thoughtful articles)…
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Ben Johnson @ersatzben.com · 10/07/2025
This is a really interesting piece that cleverly picks apart the notion of critical technologies, and proposes a framework for A&H research that extends the concept in a way that DSIT ought to find very challenging.
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Anna Grey @annamgrey.bsky.social · 10/07/2025
This is an interesting idea from @ersatzben.bsky.social and well worth a read. It also flags up the importance of QR/REG in supporting interdisciplinary research. Something many of us have been trying to articulate in discussions on QR/REG changes for a while, so good to have some actual data on it.
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profserious @profserious.bsky.social · 10/07/2025
Extremely interesting work by @ersatzben.bsky.social open.substack.com/pub/johnsonb...
open.substack.com
What Actually Counts as Interdisciplinary Research?
A data-driven look at which funders support knowledge integration
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Athene Donald @athenedonald.bsky.social · 10/07/2025
Interesting analysis from @ersatzben.bsky.social on what makes good interdisciplinary research. UKRI doesn’t come out well. ‘Despite integration within single UKRI umbrella, UK government funding seems to remain unusually focussed on silos of activity….’ johnsonb.substack.com/p/what-actua...
johnsonb.substack.com
What Actually Counts as Interdisciplinary Research?
A data-driven look at which funders support knowledge integration
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Christopher Smith @christophersmith.bsky.social · 10/07/2025
@ersatzben.bsky.social with a super interesting and challenging piece on #interdisciplinary #research. This will demand and repay a lot of careful reading. I have thoughts... but it's a fantastically interesting challenge to us as researchers and as funders!!
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Hetan Shah @hetanshah.bsky.social · 10/07/2025
Interesting bit of research from @ersatzben.bsky.social suggesting QR funding is really critical for supporting interdisciplinary research johnsonb.substack.com/p/what-actua...
johnsonb.substack.com
What Actually Counts as Interdisciplinary Research?
A data-driven look at which funders support knowledge integration
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Ben Johnson @ersatzben.com · 09/07/2025
What counts as interdisciplinary research? And can we tell who is actually funding it, versus just talking about it? A data-driven deep-dive from me here: open.substack.com/pub/johnsonb...
open.substack.com
What Actually Counts as Interdisciplinary Research?
A data-driven look at which funders actually support knowledge integration
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Ben Johnson @ersatzben.com · 29/06/2025
I'll be at Metascience 2025 this week. HMU if you want to chat!
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Ben Johnson @ersatzben.com · 20/06/2025
This is a very good piece.
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Hetan Shah @hetanshah.bsky.social · 17/06/2025
UK seems to have won around 30% of the ERC Advanced Grants in humanities and social sciences - great result. Good to be in Horizon again erc.europa.eu/news-events/...
erc.europa.eu
ERC backs cutting-edge research with €721 million in funding
The European Research Council (ERC) today announced the winners of its latest Advanced Grant competition. The funding, worth in total €721 million, will go to 281 leading researchers across Europe. Th...
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Ethan Mollick @emollick.bsky.social · 18/06/2025
No signs of an end to rapid gains in AI ability at ever-decreasing costs, yet I did my best to update my chart to take into account the price drop in o3 & new models released by Google GPT-4 was released 2.25 ago, so its worth noting the trend when considering the future of AI capabilities & cost
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Matt Clancy @mattsclancy.bsky.social · 17/06/2025
What’s the return on government support for R&D? To try to get a credible answer, Open Philanthropy and the Sloan Foundation are committing up to $1 million to trying something new: we call it a Pop-Up Journal.
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Research Professional News @resprofnews.bsky.social · 17/06/2025
UK overtakes Germany in winning most ERC Advanced Grants. www.researchprofessionalnews.com/rr-news-euro...
researchprofessionalnews.com
UK overtakes Germany in winning most ERC Advanced Grants - Research Professional News
One in five new grants go to UK-based researchers, as overall success rate falls
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Ben Johnson @ersatzben.com · 17/06/2025
Key positioning question: does the sector want to be rescued from its current position, or backed with substantial investment to deliver clear public benefit? Because if it acts like it wants the former, then I suspect it will struggle to get the latter.
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Jack Wilkinson @jdwilko.bsky.social · 12/06/2025
There is a difference between an ‘expert’ and ‘a vocal academic with a strong opinion’. Of course, much of the media completely unable to make this distinction.
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Margot Finn @eicathomefinn.bsky.social · 12/06/2025
'Such gargantuan cuts would see the number of people who receive support from the NSF fall from 330,000 to about 90,000 a year, Nature reported, resulting in success rates potentially dropping from 26 per cent to just 7 per cent.' 2/2
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Margot Finn @eicathomefinn.bsky.social · 12/06/2025
'His congressional budget requests for 2026 codify huge cuts to science agencies: 25 per cent for Nasa, 40 per cent for the National Institutes of Health (NIH) and a jaw-dropping 57 per cent for the National Science Foundation (NSF).' 1/2
timeshighereducation.com
Can anything save US science?
As the Trump administration proposes enormous cuts for the US’ world-renowned science agencies, Jack Grove looks into what is driving the attacks beyond political malice – and what, if anything, can b...
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Ben Johnson @ersatzben.com · 08/06/2025
It appears to be broadly good news for R&D in the SR. Well done to DSIT et al
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Owen Jackson @owenjackson.bsky.social · 06/06/2025
The next few months will determine the outlook for the UK #LifeSciences research landscape for a decade. An article from me on how Government needs to maximise the opportunities and avoid the pitfalls: news.cancerresearchuk.org/2025/06/05/5... 1/
news.cancerresearchuk.org
Seizing the moment – 5 steps the Government must take to help UK cancer research thrive - Cancer Research UK - Cancer News
Here's what we need to see from the Spending Review, NHS 10 Year Plan, Cancer Plan, Industrial Strategy, and Life Sciences Sector Plan.
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Craig Nicholson @clanicholson.bsky.social · 05/06/2025
Free-to-read opinion: Europe's response to US research disruption requires it to confront fundamental questions about institutional purpose, writes @ersatzben.bsky.social www.researchprofessionalnews.com/rr-news-euro...
researchprofessionalnews.com
The future of research belongs to those with clarity of purpose - Research Professional News
Replacing US leadership means tackling fundamental questions about universities’ role in society, says Ben Johnson
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