The Economic and Social Research Council (ESRC) has granted transition funding to three leading research centres based at the London School of Economics for them to continue their work. This move is part of a new funding model which saw the ESRC award a total of £6.9 million to eight different research centres, aiming to secure long-term sustainability of social science research excellence in the UK.
The awarded centres are the Centre for Macroeconomics, the Systemic Risk Centre and the Centre for Climate Change Economics and Policy.
The Centre for Macroeconomics brings together world-class experts – from Cambridge University, LSE, UCL, Oxford, the Bank of England and the National Institute of Economic and Social Research – and is chaired by LSE’s Nobel Prize-winning economics professor Christopher Pissarides. The centre’s aim is to carry out pioneering research on the global economic crisis and help design policies to alleviate it.
The Systemic Risk Centre, which is co-hosted by LSE and UCL, studies the risks that may trigger the next financial crisis and aims at developing tools to help policymakers and institutions be better prepared.
The Centre for Climate Change Economics and Policy, which is hosted jointly with the University of Leeds, whose mission is to advance public and private action on climate change, linking together science and social science.
The transition funding follows a “transition review” that took place in December, which approved continued financing for existing research centres when coming to the end of their five-year grant. It equates to “45% of the full economic costs of their original five-year grant funding.” The ESRC states that “for the first time, this will be co-funded with contributions from ESRC (20%) and their host research organisation (25%)”.
The new funding model marks a change for how the council supports its centres, following a review on how it could continue to foster their excellence over the long term without reducing investment elsewhere.
LSE Director Dame Minouche Shafik, commented this achievement by saying that “These centres are an excellent example of how social sciences can help tackle the world’s most pressing challenges – with outstanding research which directly informs policy makers.”
