Research likely for chopping block

IN the lead-up to next week's budget, university leaders are increasingly uneasy about further funding cuts, particularly to research.

IN the lead-up to next week's budget, university leaders are increasingly uneasy about further funding cuts, particularly to research.

Informed speculation in the wake of the Gillard government's $2.3 billion of cuts last month revolved around hope for some recompense in the budget with a possible two-year extension of the National Collaborative Research Infrastructure Strategy that provides funding for the ongoing costs of key research facilities.

But since news of a $12bn shortfall in forecast budget revenue was revealed by Julia Gillard, who said all reasonable options for savings were back on the table, the mood has changed.

"There were some expectations that NCRIS would be continued, but my concern is that now it may have gone back into the rethink basket," Australian Technology Group executive director Vicki Thomson said.

There are also widespread fears that the Future Fellowships program that supports talented mid-career researchers will be dumped quietly.

"I'm quite despondent about the prospect of a replacement," James Cook University senior deputy vice-chancellor Chris Cocklin said.

Professor Cocklin said an end to the Future Fellowships would represent a real cut because the program had replaced other ongoing programs.

"We need a program like this to give people the time to focus on their research," he said.

Future Fellowships are administered by the Australian Research Council and there are concerns it could be a target if the government seeks further savings. The logic used is that given the opposition has already signalled it would quarantine medical research from any spending cuts, the government will be reluctant to cut medical research, and that leaves the ARC.

Steven Schwartz, former Macquarie University vice-chancellor and the new executive director of the Council for the Humanities, Arts and Social Sciences, said that cutting the ARC's budget would especially hit the humanities and social sciences disciplines, which would have few places elsewhere to seek funding.

"The ARC is not only the main source of funding for the humanities and social sciences, it is practically the only source of funding," Professor Schwartz said. But, as the cynics say, budgets are all about managing expectations.