Combining the UK science minister¡¯s brief with ¡°investment security¡± raises important questions about Britain¡¯s openness to engage internationally on research and whether the government increasingly sees science through a ¡°harder-edged, hawkish¡± lens of defence and security, experts said.

Unlike her predecessor, whose role covered ¡°science, research and innovation¡±, Nusrat Ghani¡¯s title is ¡°minister for science and investment security¡±, according to the Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy (BEIS).

In addition to her responsibilities for science and research, which include ¡°Horizon Europe membership¡±, life sciences and space strategy, Ms Ghani will also cover ¡°technology, strategy and security¡± and will support the business secretary?Jacob Rees-Mogg?with ¡°investment security¡± and ¡°investment pipeline and opportunities¡±.

Her brief will also cover ¡°maritime and shipbuilding¡± and ¡°critical minerals and critical mineral supply chains¡±, which is likely to be focused on China¡¯s growing dominance in the acquisition of rare metals, such as lithium and cobalt.

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Kieron Flanagan, professor of science and technology policy at the University of Manchester, told?Times Higher Education?that the sector should ¡°show more curiosity about what ¡®investment security¡¯ means in this portfolio, and what it might tell us about this government¡¯s vision of the place of science and innovation in public life¡±.

¡°I assume it relates to the new national security and investment policies, which implies an instrumental view of research and a view that science and technology is part of the zero-sum competition between nations rather than a globally collaborative enterprise,¡± said Professor Flanagan.

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James Wilsdon, professor of research policy at the University of Sheffield, said it was good news that the science minister was now a full minister of state, rather than a parliamentary undersecretary, but also shared concerns over the investment security aspect of her brief.

¡°Quite what the latter involves is unclear, but one assumes it reflects the harder-edged, more hawkish view of the role of science, technology and research more broadly in the defence and maintenance of the UK¡¯s security and strategic advantage,¡± said Professor Wilsdon.

On balancing the two parts of her brief, Professor Wilsdon noted that Ms Ghani was ¡°a prominent Tory hawk on China so one assumes some of her focus will lie there¡±.

¡°While there are of course some legitimate concerns over security, economic and intellectual property risks that may arise in respect of UK research links to China, I think we urgently need a science minister who is serious about boosting UK research collaboration with the wider world, rather than taking a big fat marker to cross out yet more swathes of the globe where collaboration is no longer supported or seen as valuable,¡± he added.

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Given current geopolitical tensions, Ms Ghani¡¯s other role of promoting Britain as a ¡°science superpower¡± would also prove challenging, he added.

¡°If association with Horizon Europe continues to prove elusive or impossible, Russia and China are no longer seen as acceptable collaborators, and a major bilateral deal with the United States on research (as well as wider trade) is out, one wonders what remains for the substantive focus of any ¡®Plan B¡¯,¡± he said. ¡°There¡¯s only so much we as the UK can do in research and development collaborative terms with Australia, New Zealand, Canada, Israel and Switzerland.

¡°Are we still aiming to be a ¡¯science superpower¡¯? And if so, what does that mean in this context? This is what I¡¯d like to hear the new minister spell out more clearly in the months ahead.¡±

jack.grove@timeshighereducation.com