Research renaissance: A new funding strategy for business schools

As the highest business school UK research income earner for the third year running*, Professors Sambit Bhattacharya, Chirantan Chatterjee, and Paul Nightingale from the University of Sussex Business School propose a 10-year plan for boosting research income based on their experiences.    

UK business schools are at a crossroads – facing budget pressures at the same time as needing to deliver ever more impactful research. External funding is now essential to advance knowledge while navigating the shifting sands of geopolitics. How then to boost research income? To answer this question, we will draw on our experience at the University of Sussex, where its business school achieved being the UK’s highest research income earner for three years running*.

Let’s start by admitting resources are limited. While Business & Management research has seen seven years of growth, inflation left funding flat in real terms between 2021/22 and 2022/23. In 2022/3 this reached £94.9 million, a nominal 9% rise, but only a 5% real increase since 2017/18. The discipline's share of total research income stands at 1.3%, edging up a mere 0.1% in four years. The situation is no better in Economics, which saw a steady decline in the real value of Quality Related research funding from the UKRI.

This lacklustre picture sits against a much more positive backdrop of a 58% overall increase in funding awarded by UK research councils. So why has Business & Management's share stayed so low? EU funding has plateaued, though there is hope in 2025 with the UK's re-entry into the Horizon programme. Meanwhile, the focus on STEM subjects poses a systemic deterrent, based on a misunderstanding of what happens in the US. While federal funding concentrates on STEM, American Foundations have been supporting management research since the 1950s. The Ford Foundation alone spent more on management research and business education between 1951 and 1957 than the National Science Foundation spent on all natural sciences combined.

On this side of the Atlantic, the UK is in a bind. Weak management practices have constrained productivity growth, which has slashed tax receipts and in turn cut funding for research on how to improve growth.

10-year plan

We propose a 10-year plan to reverse this situation using five levers.

1. Interdisciplinary alliances. At Sussex, all our major research centres involve interdisciplinary collaborations. Real world problems do not respect academic disciplinary boundaries and business schools should champion alliances that drive creativity and societal impact. This in turn helps attract diverse funding sources.

2. A more proactive approach to EU Horizon funding. Despite Brexit, EU funding has remained steady, around 20%, and re-entry into Horizon will only help.

3. Philanthropic partnerships. At Sussex we have had success with the RM Philips Foundation and Peter Bennett Foundation. As well as diversifying income this has pushed researchers in exciting new directions.

4. Connect to the Global South. The shift of global economic activity makes it more important than ever to connect to the Global South. This is a matter of leveraging existing relationships, history, and soft power from alumni.

5. Build long-term collaborations with industry. At Sussex, we have a tradition of industry engagement, particularly around innovation management. These relationships can take decades to build, but are invaluable in revealing the emerging problems facing the world.   

All this is about complementing rather than replacing traditional sources of research funding from UKRI, the British Academy and Royal Society, Wellcome Trust or Nuffield Foundation. But the above levers could be used to create a more sustainable research strategy for the future.

While there is ongoing debate about how to ensure UK business school research stays relevant beyond academia, our own strategy is explicit in rejecting any trade-off between rigor and relevance. We champion academically rigorous, socially responsible research addressing major challenges. Aligning with the Research England Framework and KEF has also helped demonstrate relevance to issues like productivity, international development, sustainability and inequality.

The Government could help by shaping incentives to encourage R&D collaboration between higher education and business. The current grant-based approach through UKRI partnerships and KTPs needs a boost. Reductions in the paperwork burden would also be welcome.

Lastly, let’s remember the key role played by students. Our students are our most powerful legacy, and they need the skills to deal with new interrelated challenges, such as decarbonization, a reaffirmation of democratic politics, and the challenges of AI.

With so many fruitful directions to explore UK business schools may soon be able to contribute to a considerably brighter future.

*Source: The Chartered Association of Business Schools Research Income for Business and Management