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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 · 2h
All welcome: bench researchers (no coding needed), designers, software engineers, vibe-coders. 🧪 Prizes in cash, credits, subscriptions. Details to come! Thanks to Anthropic, Hugging Face, Pillar VC, IQ Capital and DaltonTx for support Sign up: luma.com/vdq0qw9u
luma.com
Reinvent the Wheel: A Tools for Science Hack · Luma
AI × Science Tool-building Hackathon London (Kings Cross) Friday 16th (evening) to Sunday 18th October Reinvent the Wheel is organised by Science Works and…
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Ben Johnson @ersatzben.com · 2h
London AI × Science Hackathon 👾 Science Works × Inherent Labs • Oct 16-18 Lots of scientific software is outdated, hard to use, and isn't interoperable – let alone making use of (or ready to interface with) AI. Or it's expensive. Join us to build better for the community
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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
I'd lean towards filling in!
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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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Ben Johnson @ersatzben.com · 23/06/2026
I think a department focused on S&T issues is increasingly important imo. But, politically, I don't think Labour would have created DSIT had it not been there already. I would like Patrick and Kanishka to stay. There is experience and expertise there, and a good agenda to build on.
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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
I spoke to @resprofnews.bsky.social about what a Burnham premiership could mean for R&D, regional innovation and the future of DSIT. Thanks to @johnmorgan3.bsky.social for the conversation. LINK: www.researchprofessionalnews.com/rr-news-uk-p...
researchprofessionalnews.com
Could Andy Burnham deploy R&D ‘Manchesterism’ across the UK? - Research Professional News
Starmer resignation spotlights ministers’ futures and potential for R&D funding devolution under a Burnham premiership
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Ben Johnson @ersatzben.com · 23/06/2026
Then there’s Whitehall itself. Would DSIT survive a Burnham reshuffle? Who becomes tech secretary and science minister, if either role changes hands? How far would the Treasury permit devolution to go? The first appointments will tell us a great deal.
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Ben Johnson @ersatzben.com · 23/06/2026
We need a more granular discussion: Which R&D spending decisions should remain national? Which are better made locally? Which require joint stewardship?
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Ben Johnson @ersatzben.com · 23/06/2026
We need to avoid the false binary caricature: 🎯 concentrating everything in the Golden Triangle under the banner of 'excellence' (ignoring spatial effects) vs. 🍯 spreading the jam with no regard for national capability or local strengths.
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Ben Johnson @ersatzben.com · 23/06/2026
R&D capability isn’t evenly spread, nor is absorptive capacity. Poorly designed allocations would waste money & damage competitiveness. And if spend is totally fungible, long-term R&D investment could be commandeered for short-term political pressures.
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Ben Johnson @ersatzben.com · 23/06/2026
But maximalist R&D devolution could be perilous. Internationally competitive science is a public good requiring national stewardship. The primary purpose of R&D is not regional growth or fairness.
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Ben Johnson @ersatzben.com · 23/06/2026
Could we see… 👾 a semiconductor manufacturing facility? 🧬 a supersized bioreactor? 🚀 missions built around local problems? Some initiatives would fail (& would need to be allowed to); some would be transformational.
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Ben Johnson @ersatzben.com · 23/06/2026
The more radical opportunity is positive heterogeneity. Acting in their own interests, places could make different bets from national government. We could see greater coherence & distinctiveness – strengthening healthy competition.
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Ben Johnson @ersatzben.com · 23/06/2026
M’cr would almost certainly argue that they could do more with more powers (e.g. over skills, energy and rail) and more money - possibly a big increase in devolved R&D spending. There could be opportunities here…
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Ben Johnson @ersatzben.com · 23/06/2026
What Greater Manchester achieved within the current settlement is largely about strategy rather than control of the research budget Building on existing strengths, it used devolved powers, local institutions & civic leadership to join up transport, skills, planning & investment
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Ben Johnson @ersatzben.com · 23/06/2026
As mayor of a core city outside the Golden Triangle, Burnham had a better view than most of what regional innovation ecosystems can do: attract investment & talent, create high-skill jobs, embed ‘triple helix’ collaboration between unis, industry & govt.
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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
Sign up to our newsletter on our website to keep abreast of what we're up to! science.works
science.works
Science Works
Science Works is an independent research and policy studio tackling the biggest problems facing UK science and technology.
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Ben Johnson @ersatzben.com · 19/06/2026
➡️ Editorial in Science Magazine reflecting on 10 years since Brexit - and where next for UK's involvement in EU science programmes www.science.org/eprint/WW8TV...
science.org
Britain’s next research choice
Ten years ago, the Brexit referendum began the United Kingdom’s departure from the European Union (EU), forcing British science to confront a serious question: What place should the UK occupy in Europ...
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Ben Johnson @ersatzben.com · 19/06/2026
➡️ "Reorganising Research" - a new initiative to consider how to increase diversity and dynamism in the institutional landscape science.works/reorganising...
science.works
Reorganising Research — Science Works
Reorganising Research, a workstream within the Institutional Dynamism project at Science Works. A call for evidence and an essay-writing prize.
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Ben Johnson @ersatzben.com · 19/06/2026
Some bits to pick over: ➡️ Interview with me and co-founder Laura Ryan in research professional: www.researchprofessionalnews.com/rr-news-uk-p... ➡️ Our first (non-linear!) essay on the linear model of innovation by Will Stone science.works/writing/line...
researchprofessionalnews.com
Push to build evidence for UK research policy launches - Research Professional News
Current decision-making not “sufficiently evidence-based”, say founders of new “policy and research studio” Science Works
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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 · 17/02/2026
The China effect is major, but doesn’t appear to be decisive in the data across all fields. I’m going to put some more analysis out soon on this!
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Ben Johnson @ersatzben.com · 17/02/2026
They do in these three topics, but don’t in most others of the 4500 topics. Am putting it down to coincidence for now while I dig into it further.
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Ben Johnson @ersatzben.com · 15/02/2026
Ah, I downloaded and used the whole data snapshot with custom python queries, so didn’t use this website interface - I’ll have to dig into it a bit further to check presence of these key papers.
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Ben Johnson @ersatzben.com · 15/02/2026
Thanks Tara! I'm counting papers with any author affiliation to a UK institution. (Co-authorship will count as a UK paper.) The 'UK share' is simply that number divided by the total count of papers globally. It's v v simplistic – but I think OK as a broad-brush participation metric!
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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
The buckets seem to me to be about administrative control, not epistemic posture. That's fine, but putting QR in Bucket 1 then assumes that universities can't walk and chew gum at the same time. But unis are actually pretty good at working with their partners to deliver on govt priorities.
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Ben Johnson @ersatzben.com · 06/02/2026
Then look at Quantum: a huge fraction of the work is absolutely curiosity-driven, but it's squarely in bucket 2. This is because there is a Strategy and a Programme! But that's an administrative question which has nothing to do with how the research is actually done.
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Ben Johnson @ersatzben.com · 06/02/2026
I assume it is because someone naively believes that curiosity-driven research is reducible to "stuff the govt doesn't control", and so the reverse must also be true: anything that is not directly in the grip of the state is simply a curiosity that must be indulged.
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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
Because the media are locking in - I’ve had several calls today from broadsheet journos. And the senior physicists and mathematicians I was with on Friday were hopping mad about cuts and gearing up for a big showdown. So it needed an urgent response.
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Ben Johnson @ersatzben.com · 01/02/2026
These are good questions - ones that I don’t think today‘s crisis comms can easily address. I hope we get answers.
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Ben Johnson @ersatzben.com · 01/02/2026
It’s direct. Diplomatic but fairly pointed about how STFC got here, and that STFC‘s mess is not a template for discovery research across the board. And clearly taking responsibility - visibly and legibly - for tough choices. And I liked that he signed “Ian”, not Professor Sir etc. Not hiding.
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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 · 18/12/2025
I agree - there are stats in my post here: www.ersatzben.com/p/erasmus-an...
ersatzben.com
Erasmus and the government’s opportunity mission
Is this £570m diplomatic concession dressed as social policy?
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Ben Johnson @ersatzben.com · 18/12/2025
Posted a quick follow-up to this on my substack johnsonb.substack.com/p/erasmus-an...
johnsonb.substack.com
Erasmus and the government’s opportunity mission
Is this £570m diplomatic concession dressed as social policy?
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Ben Johnson @ersatzben.com · 17/12/2025
People are, of course, entirely free to take moral positions on whatever they like - as are our public institutions. And others, equally, are free to disagree on moral grounds. (Motivated reasoning notwithstanding.) Anyway, I’m sure this will all play out brilliantly for the HE sector come 2029… 🙈
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Ben Johnson @ersatzben.com · 17/12/2025
And it’s all pushed for & negotiated by extremely well-educated, well-brought-up types, many of whom assert that this is a MORAL question about the UK's global worldview, not an OUTCOMES-based debate about how best to promote opportunity through international education for those most in need.
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