Professor Philip Nolan:

For a typical small- to medium-scale project, it would be four to five years. Some major initiatives and centres can be funded for a ten- to 15-year timescale. Normally, however, Governments make those decisions over a four- to six-year period. There will be a multi-annual plan for these. That is perhaps not an issue for today, but most Governments invest in their research systems on a multi-annual basis, and not simply on the basis of annual estimates.