Ms Annette Dolan:

I concur with the comments of my colleagues to my left. That is absolutely a concern for the future. It is not a concern now under the current Minister. However, I would call for separate budget heads that are guaranteed for basic and blue-skies research, and linking that to broadening the definition of research so it includes the whole spectrum from arts and humanities to the sciences, as I outlined earlier. As I said in my submission, the principle of academic freedom needs to be written into head 8 to guarantee that provision is there. That is really important.

Funding is needed under a separate head to allow individual researchers with secure contracts to pursue the type of research which, in their view, will add to knowledge that will be of benefit across all those areas of research.