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Research England

UK government agency

Wikipedia contributorsAdapted for Fathomly · View authors
1 min read
Source updated August 8, 2026

The Research England is a council of UK Research and Innovation (UKRI), a non-departmental public body sponsored by the Department for Science, Innovation and Technology, responsible for overseeing the functions of UKRI in relation to university research and knowledge transfer in England. This includes:

  • providing funding to English universities for research and knowledge exchange activities
  • developing and implementing the Research Excellence Framework (REF) in partnership with the UK Higher Education funding bodies
  • developing the Knowledge Exchange Framework (KEF)
  • overseeing the sustainability the Higher Education research base in England
  • managing the £900 million UK Research Partnership Investment Fund
  • administering the Higher Education Innovation Fund (HEIF)
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This article is adapted from the Wikipedia article “Research England”, written by its contributors and licensed under CC BY-SA 4.0. Fathomly has changed the layout, removed citation markers, navigation and maintenance notices, and adjusted punctuation. This adapted version is shared under the same license. For references, see the original article.

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Higher Education Funding Council for England

The Higher Education Funding Council for England was a non-departmental public body in the United Kingdom, which was responsible for the distribution of funding for higher education to universities and further education colleges in England since 1992. It ceased to exist as of 1 April 2018, when its duties were divided between the newly created Office for Students and Research England (operating within United Kingdom Research and Innovation).

Research funding in the United Kingdom

Research funding in the United Kingdom is divided mainly among Non-Departmental Government Bodies: UK Research and Innovation, and 'Higher Education Funding Bodies'. The budgets of both the UK Research Councils (which later merged into UKRI) and the Higher Education Funding Bodies budgets were set by the Department for Business, Innovation and Skills prior to 2016, at which point department was succeeded by the Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy.