MRC board structures – changes agreed at the MRC’s December 2007 Council meeting
At their December meeting the MRC’s Council agreed that the organisation needs to have a system for developing and implementing strategy that meets the following requirements:
- Maintains funding for the highest quality of underpinning fundamental science
- Contributes to the UK’s global competitiveness
- Balances the need to fund large scale science and infrastructure against appropriate entry level investigator-initiated research
- Identifies and responds rapidly to new developments
- Provides career development at all levels of seniority for clinical and basic scientists
- Delivers the translational agenda
- Secures effective partnership working in particular with other research councils, research charities, universities, industry, NIHR and the devolved administrations
- Exploits interdisciplinary opportunities especially with the physical sciences, engineering and social sciences
New board structures
The new division of responsibilities between the MRC and NIHR – for example, in relation to clinical trials and methodology development as announced recently - reduces the volume of future business for the current MRC Health Services and Public Health Research Board (HSPHRB).
A substantial proportion of the MRC’s portfolio of public health research is already well embedded in the portfolios of our other research boards and the remaining funding responsibility for public health research currently covered by HSPHRB will be redistributed to the other boards.
A new strategic overview group will take on responsibility for coordinating population health sciences across the boards, and through partnerships and new initiatives. The MRC remains firmly committed to population health sciences and will appoint new members to strengthen all boards’ expertise.
The MRC’s strategic direction needs strong coordination mechanisms to ensure that cross-Board funding policies and initiatives are developed and implemented well. This requires the establishment of four thematic overview groups as follows:
- Population sciences
- Global health
- Translational research
- Training and careers
Terms of reference will include a strong role in overseeing the implementation of the MRC’s funding policies, as well as contributing to strategy development. The groups will not receive funding for response-mode applications or be constituted as grant awarding boards – specific budgets will be set for fellowship panels and calls for proposals.
New MRC Strategy Board
Chairmen of each research board and thematic overview group will serve as members of a new Strategy Board that will be chaired by the Chief Executive. The Strategy Board will develop the overall strategic scientific plans for the MRC and will ensure that the organisation is responsive to the current and future scientific landscape. It will advise the Chief Executive on the apportionment of budgets across the research boards and will make awards from a new Strategic Research Fund. This will be separate from the funds the MRC is intending to allocate for translational research and to boards for response mode applications.
A first meeting of the Strategy Board is planned for early in the new year and research board budgets will be announced after that.
The executive are now developing an implementation plan for these changes and further announcements will follow in the new year. So that there is no hiatus in considering proposals while the organisational changes are implemented, HSPHRB will continue to exist until these new arrangements, and the new funding partnerships with NIHR, are operational; as will the Training and Career Development Board.
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