The State of Research Funding in our Discipline – new CABS-BAM Infographic

The facts about the research funding available to our discipline within the UK are laid out in a new infographic issued jointly by Chartered ABS and BAM.

The true state of funding for business and management research is is an important but largely invisible issue.

Research funding matters for many reasons. First, it supports research even if it doesn't meet the full economic cost of that research. Second, it is a proxy for quality where it is secured competitively from a funder. Third, it matters for the standing of our discipline relative to others in institutional conversations that might otherwise veer toward "the business school is very teaching focused and our other disciplines are very research focused". Fourth, it matters at the level of individual careers where progression and promotion often rest on the ability to bring in external funds.

We are a very large community of researchers chasing a relatively small pot of money and that pot is decreasing in real terms. The national narrative from George Freeman MP and others is about growing the proportion of GDP spent on research and innovation to make the UK a research superpower. In a context where the wider economy faces productivity challenges, sustainability issues and needs to add value at higher levels, the expertise of business schools matters. The Chartered Association of Business Schools and the British Academy of Management continue to make the case for better resourcing. Please share the infographic and help get the message out there that business and management scholars could do even more if they were better resourced.

Please do share the facts about B&M research funding in the UK as widely as possible.

Download the infographic here