RKE insights
Useful thinking should lead to useful action.
Current, plain-English guidance for the people finding, delivering and governing funded research and innovation.
The Research Operations Gap: five frictions holding good work back
Research ambition has moved quickly. The operations around it have not always kept pace. This field perspective identifies five recurring gaps and a practical 30-day route to begin closing them.
Read the guidancePost-award compliance: make good control part of delivery
Post-award compliance is not a final check before audit. It is the everyday work of turning award terms into clear responsibilities, evidence and timely decisions.
Read the guidanceWhat is quality-related research funding—and why does it matter?
Quality-related research funding gives higher education providers flexible support for research capacity and priorities. Understanding it means seeing how project grants and institutional funding work together.
Read the guidanceUKRI grant compliance: five controls that support good delivery
UKRI compliance is easier to manage when requirements are connected to real work. These five controls give teams a practical place to begin.
Read the guidanceFunding non-compliance: understand the risk before it becomes a finding
Non-compliance is rarely one dramatic event. It is more often a chain of unclear ownership, missed evidence, unsupported cost or unapproved change. Breaking that chain early protects the work and the relationship with the funder.
Read the guidanceUKRI and the research and innovation ecosystem: what operations teams should notice
UKRI’s strategy describes a connected system of people, organisations, disciplines, places and ideas. Research operations teams help that system function every day—even when their work is described in separate organisational boxes.
Read the guidanceInnovate UK funding and VAT: check the mechanism, not the label
There is no safe one-line answer for every Innovate UK opportunity. VAT treatment can depend on whether support is a grant or a procurement contract, the competition rules and what is being supplied.
Read the guidanceRKE insights
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Occasional research operations guidance, practical checks and new evidence. No generic marketing sequence.Start with the problem
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