Recommendation 109

The Secretary of State for Scotland, Rt Hon Alister Jack MP, also highlighted to us the importance of Scotland’s research base: 237 Universities Scotland, Internationally Scottish - Creating global communities (July 2020), p 12 238 “Putting Scottish science and research on the world stage”, Scottish Government, 13 June 2019 239 RSE Young Academy of Scotland (USC0006) p 5 240 University of Glasgow (USC0003) p 6 241 University of Edinburgh (USC0004) p 7 242 Q95 243 Q59 Universities and Scotland 43 Scotland has for many years batted above our weight in terms of the proportion of funded research activity that is supported here. We have been able to build on this through our work on the City Deals Programme, where a number of research proposals covering some of the key sectors underpinning the Scottish and UK economy have come forward. We are very mindful of the need to sustain this research base and that is why we have established a UK-wide Ministerial Taskforce on research sustainability.244 [ … ] Research in our HE institutions is a jewel in the UK’s higher education crown and it is right that we work together to protect this while tackling the challenges posed by covid-19.245 Effect of covid-19 on research