3 July 2026 · MCP Service
REF 2029 Timeline: Panel Criteria to Submission
REF 2029 runs from panel criteria consultation to the autumn 2028 submission deadline and December 2029 results.
Editorial · Newsdesk
Policy & Funding News
Briefings on the external policy landscape — funder mandates, AI regulation, national assessment exercises, and open-science requirements — reported for the global research-administration community.
81 articles
- 3 July 2026 · MCP Service
REF 2029 Pause Lifted: Criteria Setting Resumes
REF 2029’s pause ended 10 Dec 2025. See what changed, and what the 2026 panel restart means for institutional planning.
- 3 July 2026 · MCP Service
National Data Repository Mandates: UK, US, EU
UK, US and EU rules for national research data repositories differ on FAIR compliance — here’s how the mandates compare.
- 3 July 2026 · MCP Service
cOAlition S Funding 2026: Diamond OA Shift
cOAlition S has ended transformative-agreement funding, redirecting money to diamond OA and repositories.
- 3 July 2026 · MCP Service
cOAlition S Members in 2026: Which Funders Still Mandate Immediate Open Access
A 2026 status check on cOAlition S: which funder members still mandate immediate open access, and which have relaxed enforcement.
- 3 July 2026 · MCP Service
Transformative Agreements End: Diamond OA Pivot Under cOAlition S 2026–2030 Strategy
cOAlition S’s new 2026-2030 strategy ends default support for transformative agreements, redirecting funding toward diamond open access.
- 3 July 2026 · MCP Service
AI Research, Innovation, and Accountability Act: What Research Offices Need to Know
AIRIA stalled in the US Senate, but its risk-based rules now echo in state AI laws and NIH/NSF grant compliance.
- 3 July 2026 · MCP Service
State AI Laws Create a Patchwork for Consortia
US state AI laws are multiplying without federal preemption, creating a compliance patchwork for multi-campus research consortia.
- 3 July 2026 · MCP Service
AI Safety Institute Network: How Cross-Border Testing Works
How the UK, US, EU, Japan, Korea, Singapore and Canada jointly test frontier AI models before deployment.
- 3 July 2026 · MCP Service
UK AI Regulatory Framework: EU Sandboxes to 2027
EU Digital Omnibus delays AI Act regulatory sandbox deadlines to 2027 — here’s what it means for university AI pilots.
- 3 July 2026 · MCP Service
Digital Omnibus AI Act: New 2027 Deadlines
The Digital Omnibus delays AI Act high-risk rules to 2027-28; sandboxes shift to Aug 2027. Here’s what still applies in 2026.
- 3 July 2026 · MCP Service
UK Research Funding Volatility 2026: Key Signals
UK research funding volatility in 2026 explained: UKRI’s funding buckets, grant pauses, and what research offices should do next.
- 3 July 2026 · MCP Service
UKRI AI Research Labs: What They Mean for Grant Applicants
UKRI’s £60m SOFAIR and BOLD AI labs signal a shift to fundamental research and staged funding for grant applicants.
- 3 July 2026 · MCP Service
UK R&D Investment 2026: Grant Pipeline Impact for Institutions
UK R&D funding rises to £55.4bn by 2029/30 — what it means for institutional grant pipelines.
- 3 July 2026 · MCP Service
UKRI Funding Buckets Explained for Grant Holders
UKRI’s £38.6bn budget is now split into four funding buckets — here’s what changes for grant holders through 2030.
- 3 July 2026 · MCP Service
Research Professional News Closure: Next Steps
Clarivate closes Research Professional News on 31 December 2026 — here is how UK research offices should replace its coverage.
- 3 July 2026 · MCP Service
Council of Europe AI Treaty: A Second Track
A binding AI treaty runs alongside the EU AI Act, covering Council of Europe states such as the UK.
- 3 July 2026 · MCP Service
Tri-Agency Research Data Management Policy 2026
Canada’s Tri-Agency RDM Policy sets institutional, DMP and data-deposit duties for CIHR, NSERC and SSHRC grantees.
- 3 July 2026 · MCP Service
New Expectations and Demands from Science (OECD)
OECD’s companion paper maps research-assessment reform actors and tensions — separate from its flagship report.
- 3 July 2026 · MCP Service
Horizon Europe Cluster 6 Work Programme 2026: Open Data Rules for Applicants
Cluster 6 layers biodiversity data-sharing duties onto Horizon Europe’s standard open data rules — what changes for 2026 applicants.
- 3 July 2026 · MCP Service
UK Association to Horizon Europe: 2026 Status
The UK’s Horizon Europe association holds into 2026, with UK grantees bound by the same open access and data mandates as EU institutions.
- 3 July 2026 · MCP Service
Horizon Europe Pillars vs FP10: Four vs Three
FP10 proposes replacing Horizon Europe’s three pillars with four, adding a dedicated European Research Area pillar.
- 3 July 2026 · MCP Service
Horizon Europe FP10 Explained: The €175bn Framework Proposal
The EC’s FP10 proposal sets a €175bn Horizon Europe budget for 2028-2034 inside a new EU Competitiveness Fund.
- 3 July 2026 · MCP Service
Horizon Europe Budget: Parliament’s €200bn Push Against FP10’s €175bn Plan
Parliament wants €200bn for FP10 vs the Commission’s €175bn. What the standoff means for grant-pipeline planning.
- 3 July 2026 · MCP Service
UKRI Terms and Conditions: 2025-26 Grant Changes
UKRI revised its research and training grant terms and conditions for 2025-26, changing stipends, equipment costing, and security compliance rules.
- 3 July 2026 · MCP Service
UKRI Global Talent Visa: What Changed in 2026
What changed in UKRI’s Global Talent visa route in 2026 — and why the £54m Global Talent Fund has sparked concern among excluded institutions.
- 3 July 2026 · MCP Service
UKRI Future Leaders Fellowships: Round 11 vs 10 — Eligibility, Timeline and What Changed
UKRI Future Leaders Fellowships Round 11 runs 2 Feb-16 June 2026. Here is what changed in eligibility and timing versus Round 10.
- 3 July 2026 · MCP Service
REF 2029 Panel Members: Who Sets the Criteria
REF 2029 panel members were recruited by open application, for the first time — here is who is now setting the assessment criteria.
- 3 July 2026 · MCP Service
REF 2029 Portability: What Changes for Moving Staff
REF 2029 decouples outputs from staff, ending automatic portability except a 5-year carve-out for books. Here is what changed.
- 3 July 2026 · MCP Service
BioRxiv Preprint Server: NIH, Wellcome and Gates Compared
How NIH, Wellcome and the Gates Foundation treat bioRxiv and medRxiv preprints differently under their 2026 open access policies.
- 3 July 2026 · MCP Service
bioRxiv License Update: What Changed for Authors and Reuse
bioRxiv’s Author Area now lets authors switch to a less-restrictive licence on existing preprints. Here is what changed.
- 3 July 2026 · MCP Service
BioRxiv PubMed Indexing: How the NIH Pilot Works
How NIH-funded bioRxiv and medRxiv preprints reach PubMed via the NIH Preprint Pilot, and what other funders are watching.
- 3 July 2026 · MCP Service
UKRI Funding Cuts: ODA Impact for Grant Holders
UKRI’s ODA research budget has faced repeated cuts since 2021, with more reductions to 2027 — what grant holders need to know.
- 3 July 2026 · MCP Service
MRC Funding Update UKRI: Grants Reopened
MRC paused grant schemes in 2026 – here’s which UKRI opportunities reopened and what changed for grant holders.
- 3 July 2026 · MCP Service
Research Misconduct Policy: Lehigh’s 2026 Update Sets the Pace for Peer Institutions
Lehigh’s research misconduct policy takes effect 1 January 2026, part of a wider wave of US university policy updates under a revised federal rule.
- 3 July 2026 · MCP Service
Wellcome Trust Open Access Policy Explained: Requirements, APC Funding and the Plan S Link
Wellcome funds APCs directly, mandates CC BY with zero embargo, and pre-dates Plan S by over a decade.
- 3 July 2026 · MCP Service
Gates Foundation Open Access Policy: No More APCs for cOAlition S Funders
The Gates Foundation stopped paying APCs from 1 January 2025 and mandated preprints for all funded manuscripts.
- 3 July 2026 · MCP Service
AI Regulations Around the World: A 4-Jurisdiction Comparison for Research Consortia
How the EU AI Act, US state laws, China’s rules and the Council of Europe treaty create friction for research consortia.
- 3 July 2026 · MCP Service
Text and Data Mining Copyright Exception: The UK’s 2026 Decision
The UK rejected a broad AI text and data mining exception in 2026 — what stays the same for research libraries.
- 3 July 2026 · MCP Service
China AI Regulation for Research Collaboration
China’s Interim AI Measures reshape joint authorship, data-sharing and co-supervision — compared against EU, UK and US rules.
- 3 July 2026 · MCP Service
Sovereign AI Fund: The University Research Route
The UK’s £500m Sovereign AI Fund backs startups, not universities — here’s how research groups access AIRR compute and UKRI funding instead.
- 3 July 2026 · MCP Service
AI Opportunities Action Plan: Research, Year One
One year on, what the AI Opportunities Action Plan delivered for UK university research — and what has stalled.
- 3 July 2026 · MCP Service
AI Security Institute UK: What the Rebrand Means
The UK’s AI Safety Institute was renamed AI Security Institute in 2025. Here’s what changed and what it means for universities.
- 3 July 2026 · MCP Service
UK Association to Horizon Europe: 2026 Rules for Grant Administrators
How UK association to Horizon Europe actually works: eligibility routes, the guarantee wind-down, and the EU correction mechanism explained.
- 2 July 2026 · MCP Service
UK Clinical Trial Regulations 2026: What Changed on 28 April
UK clinical trial regulations changed 28 April 2026. What research offices must know and do now.
- 2 July 2026 · MCP Service
NIH Grant Application Cap: What Changed and Why
NIH now runs two grant application caps at once: a 6-per-year submission limit and a new proposal to cap concurrent awards.
- 2 July 2026 · MCP Service
UKRI Policy Fellowships 2026: Embedding Researchers in Government
UKRI’s 2026 call opens 50 policy fellowships across 26 government partners, with new rules for secondment agreements.
- 2 July 2026 · MCP Service
NIH Grant Terminations in 2026: What Was Cancelled, What Was Restored, and Why
A timeline of NIH and HHS grant terminations, court-ordered restorations, and how research offices can monitor exposure via RePORTER.
- 2 July 2026 · MCP Service
NIH Reinstates South Africa Grant Funding: Inside the Subaward Policy Reversal
NIH lifted its hold on frozen South Africa grants in 2025 — here’s what changed and what subawardees should track.
- 2 July 2026 · MCP Service
NIH Indirect Cost Cap Lawsuit Ends: Final Ruling Explained
The multi-state NIH indirect cost cap lawsuit concluded in April 2026 when the administration dropped its Supreme Court appeal after a First Circuit loss.
- 2 July 2026 · MCP Service
ORI Research Misconduct Policy: 2026 Annual Assurance Renewal Explained
ORI’s Final Rule takes effect in 2026: here is what institutions must submit for annual assurance renewal, and by when.
- 2 July 2026 · MCP Service
Research Misconduct Penalties: Vietnam’s New Tiered System
Vietnam’s new tiered rules pair funding bans with public apologies — a live test case for graduated research-misconduct sanctions.
- 2 July 2026 · MCP Service
Scotland’s New Research Integrity Policy: What UK Institutions Must Do Before September 2026
Scotland’s SFC approved a new research integrity policy in May 2026. Here is what changes for misconduct reporting from September 2026.
- 2 July 2026 · MCP Service
cOAlition S Monographs: What the Open Access Policy Requires
cOAlition S recommends — but does not mandate — open access for monographs, diverging sharply from the binding Horizon Europe rules.
- 2 July 2026 · MCP Service
cOAlition S Scales Back: Inside the Open Access Commitment Reset
cOAlition S narrowed Plan S’s all-funder open access mandate for 2026-2030. Here is what changed, and what it means for institutions.
- 2 July 2026 · MCP Service
AI Chip Export Controls: How 2026 Rules Reshape Research Collaboration
New 2026 chip-export rules are reshaping university GPU procurement and international co-authorship agreements.
- 2 July 2026 · MCP Service
AI Growth Lab: What the UK’s Regulatory Sandbox Means for University-Led AI Research
DSIT’s AI Growth Lab proposes supervised regulatory sandboxes for AI. Here’s what the sandbox pilots could mean for university research offices.
- 2 July 2026 · MCP Service
NIH’s Ban on AI-Generated Grant Applications: What NOT-OD-25-132 Requires
NIH’s NOT-OD-25-132 bars AI-drafted grant applications and caps PIs at six submissions a year — here is what compliance actually requires.
- 2 July 2026 · MCP Service
AI in Grant Peer Review: How ERC, NIH, UKRI and NHMRC Draw the Line
Compare ERC, NIH, UKRI and NHMRC 2025-26 AI peer-review rules and get reviewer-agreement clauses.
- 2 July 2026 · MCP Service
2 CFR 200 Cost Principles: What Changes Under the 2026 OMB Rule
OMB’s 2026 proposed rule reshapes 2 CFR 200 Subpart E cost allowability. Here is what changes and why it matters.
- 2 July 2026 · MCP Service
University Research Funding Cuts: What the Court Cases Mean for Grant Recipients
Harvard, Columbia and multi-state lawsuits are reshaping how NIH and NSF terminate and review grants.
- 2 July 2026 · MCP Service
mRNA Research Funding Cuts: Tracking the Institutional Fallout
HHS and BARDA’s $500m mRNA wind-down is reshaping institutional funding portfolios — here is what changed and who is affected.
- 2 July 2026 · MCP Service
Cancer Research Funding Cuts: What the 2026 NIH Data Shows
NIH has terminated 1,392 cancer-related awards worth $539M by April 2026. See what the data shows and how institutions can respond.
- 2 July 2026 · MCP Service
Grant Peer Review Under OMB’s Proposed 2026 Uniform Grants Regulation
OMB’s 2026 proposed grants rule would make grant peer review advisory and widen political termination power over federal awards.
- 2 July 2026 · MCP Service
OMB Uniform Guidance 2026 Overhaul: What Research Offices Should Flag Before the Comment Deadline
OMB’s proposed 2026 rewrite of 2 CFR 200/300 tightens oversight, termination and cost rules — comments close 13 July 2026.
- 1 July 2026 · MCP Service
NIH’s 2026 Data Management and Sharing Plan Format: What Changed and Why It Matters
NIH’s revised DMS Plan format takes effect May 2026, adding sharper metadata and preservation detail requirements to grant applications.
- 1 July 2026 · MCP Service
UKRI’s New Funding Model Explained: What Research Administrators Need to Know for 2026
UKRI’s Funding Service consolidation reshapes application routes and reporting data — here’s what research offices must do before the 2026 cycle.
- 22 June 2026
GDPR Enforcement 2025: How DPAs Applied the Rules
A neutral, aggregate recap of how European data-protection authorities applied the GDPR through 2025 — the recurring themes in enforcement, the role of the one-stop-shop and EDPB coordination, and the principles regulators emphasised, without naming specific cases as accusations.
- 22 June 2026
EU CTR and CTIS Now Mandatory: Harmonised Trials
The EU Clinical Trials Regulation is now in full force, with the Clinical Trials Information System the mandatory single entry point for trial applications across the EU and EEA. This explainer describes harmonised authorisation, the role of CTIS and the end of the transition period.
- 22 June 2026
ICH E6(R3) Good Clinical Practice: GCP Modernised
ICH E6(R3) modernises the international Good Clinical Practice guideline around quality-by-design, risk-based thinking and flexibility for diverse trial designs and technologies. This explainer describes what the revised GCP guideline emphasises and how it differs in spirit from the earlier E6(R2).
- 22 June 2026
NSPM-33 Research Security: Disclosure & Programmes
NSPM-33 directs US federal research agencies to standardise disclosure requirements and asks covered institutions to maintain research-security programmes. This explainer describes the disclosure expectations, the four programme elements and how research security relates to the fundamental-research exclusion.
- 22 June 2026
OMB 2024 Uniform Guidance: $1M Audit, 15% Indirect
The US Office of Management and Budget’s 2024 revisions to the Uniform Guidance raised the Single Audit threshold to $1 million and lifted the de-minimis indirect-cost rate to 15 percent. This explainer summarises what research administrators should understand about the updated grants-management rules.
- 22 June 2026
The OSTP Nelson Memo Deadline: Free Federal Research
The 2022 OSTP guidance known as the Nelson memo directed US federal agencies to make funded publications and supporting data free to read, with full implementation expected by the end of 2025. This explainer describes the memo, the end-2025 milestone, and how agency rollouts took shape.
- 22 June 2026
NIH Public Access Policy 2025: No-Embargo Free Access
From mid-2025, peer-reviewed papers arising from NIH funding became freely available in PubMed Central immediately on publication, ending the previous twelve-month embargo. This explainer describes what the updated policy changed, who it applies to, and how authors and administrators interpret the new immediate-access requirement.
- 22 June 2026
Texas TRAIGA and the US State AI-Law Patchwork
The Texas Responsible AI Governance Act took effect on 1 January 2026, adding to a fast-growing patchwork of US state AI laws. A neutral explainer of TRAIGA and how state approaches differ.
- 22 June 2026
NYC Local Law 144: Bias Audits for Hiring AI Tools
New York City’s Local Law 144 requires annual independent bias audits of automated employment decision tools. A neutral explainer of what the audit involves and the notice and publication duties.
- 22 June 2026
Colorado AI Act: First US State AI Law, and Its Delay
Colorado’s SB24-205 was the first comprehensive US state law targeting algorithmic discrimination in high-risk AI. A neutral explainer of its scope and its repeatedly deferred effective date.
- 22 June 2026
EU AI Act: Counting Down to High-Risk Obligations
The EU AI Act’s high-risk obligations centre on conformity assessment and CE marking. A 2 August 2026 milestone, plus later phased dates and a proposed deferral, shape the compliance calendar.
- 22 June 2026
EU AI Act: GPAI Rules & Code of Practice Begin Aug 2025
From 2 August 2025, the EU AI Act’s obligations for general-purpose AI model providers began to apply, accompanied by a voluntary GPAI Code of Practice covering transparency, copyright and safety.
- 22 June 2026
EU AI Act: Prohibited AI Practices Take Effect Feb 2025
From 2 February 2025, the EU AI Act’s bans on certain AI uses under Article 5 began to apply, alongside a new AI-literacy duty under Article 4 for providers and deployers across the Union.
- 6 May 2026
NSPM-33 implementation: 18 months in
Eighteen months after NSPM-33 disclosure requirements took effect, a status report on what worked, what is broken, and the institutional adjustments still pending.
