Funding terror: how west Africa’s deadly jihadists get the money they need to survive: The west Africa–Sahel region has seen a proliferation of militant Islamist groups since the 1990s. One of the most vicious groups operating in the region is Jama’at Nusrat al-Islam wal-Muslimin (Support Group for Islam and Muslims). The militant group emerged in …
US funding cuts have crippled our HIV work – what’s being lost: The loss of research capability means losing an understanding of how to prevent or treat HIV. Photo by sergey mikheev on Unsplash The Trump administration’s cuts to funding for scientific research have left many scientists reeling and very worried. At the National Institutes …
Africa’s healthcare funding crisis: 3 strategies to manage deadly diseases: The increasing trend of reducing foreign aid to Africa is forcing the continent to reassess its approach to healthcare delivery. African countries face a major challenge of dealing with high rates of communicable diseases, such as malaria and HIV/Aids, and rising levels of non-communicable diseases. …
Early years funding boost: why the UK government is prioritising getting children school ready: Robert Kneschke/Shutterstock The UK government is putting money into early years education in England. A funding boost of £75 million is intended to increase the number of staff and places for children in nurseries. The pupil premium for early years is …
University funding is in crisis – and none of the political parties have a clear plan to fix it: EF Stock/Shutterstock The past 14 years of Conservative-led government have, in many ways, been a successful period for the UK’s universities. Student numbers have increased by 12% to 2.9 million. Real terms income has grown by …
Big companies, like Nestlé, are funding health research in South Africa – why this is wrong: In 2021, the director of the African Research University Alliance Centre of Excellence in Food Security at the University of Pretoria was appointed to the board of the transnational food corporation Nestlé. At the time a group of more …
Ukraine recap: prospect of renewed US funding a boost for beleaguered Zelensky: It’s appropriate, a fortnight out from the second anniversary of the full-scale Russian invasion, to look back and see what the mood was this time last year as we marked the end of the first year of all-out war in Ukraine. We had …
Ukraine recap: western divisions an ominous sign for Kyiv as the aid funding tap begins to dry up: For the past week or so it has felt as if Ukraine’s fate is more likely to be decided in Washington and Brussels than on the battlefield as US president Joe Biden struggles to get his US$ …
COP28: a year on from climate change funding breakthrough, poor countries eye disappointment at Dubai summit: At the COP27 summit in Sharm El-Sheikh, Egypt, an agreement to establish a loss and damage fund was hailed as a major breakthrough on one of the trickiest topics in the UN climate change negotiations. In an otherwise frustrating …
UK announces AI funding for teachers: how this technology could change the profession: Prostock-studio/Shutterstock During the recent international AI Safety Summit held in the UK, the government announced a further £2 million to be invested in Oak National Academy – a publicly funded classroom resource hub – to develop artificial intelligence tools to help reduce …
Funding for Ukraine is anything but certain after US elects new speaker: US president Joe Biden has proposed a new US$ 105 billion (£86.5 billion) national security aid package, including $ 61 billion for Ukraine. Pleading with Congress to cast aside “petty, partisan, angry politics”, on October 20 Biden reiterated his refrain that “if we …
The UK re-joining the Horizon research funding scheme benefits Europe too – the data backs it up: Amorn Suriyan / Shutterstock The UK has just rejoined the EU’s flagship research funding programmes, Horizon Europe and Copernicus. This is great news for science, the EU and the UK. The reasons are simple: science progresses through the …
The UK has joined the EU’s Horizon science funding scheme – but if we want the UK to lead, the hard work has just begun: Gorodenkoff / Shutterstock The UK government’s announcement that it had rejoined the European Union’s Horizon Europe science funding programme was cause for celebration among researchers in Britain and across Europe. …
Concrete in schools: how missing data and poor funding contributed to today’s closures: Monkey Business Images/Shutterstock In September 2022, schools in England were at risk of bankruptcy as their day-to-day spending threatened to overtake their regular income. A hasty autumn budget included additional revenue funds for schools, coming as a relief to many school leaders. …
Horizon Europe: how the UK’s delay in rejoining EU funding scheme is damaging scientific research: Gorodenkoff / Shutterstock Horizon Europe is the largest and richest funding programme for scientific research in the world. Run by the European Union (EU), it has a budget of €95.5 billion (£83 billion) spread over seven years – from 2021 …
South Africa’s Land Bank can be fixed: change the funding model and narrow the focus: Land Bank played an influential role in the development of South African agriculture. GettyImages It is disheartening to see how many South Africans, including parliamentarians, have forgotten the simple and influential role the Land and Agricultural Development Bank (Land Bank) …
Using pharmacists to ease pressure on GPs will only work with proper funding and more staff: You may soon be able to visit your pharmacist to get certain medicines without seeing a GP first. Yuri A/PeopleImages.com/ Shutterstock The NHS is under tremendous pressure and patients are increasingly struggling to access appointments and urgent care. In …
South Africa has been grey listed for not stopping money laundering and terrorism funding. What it means: South Africa provides fertile ground for money laundering and terrorism funding. shutterstock The Financial Action Task Force has placed South Africa on a list of countries under increased monitoring, commonly known as the grey list, after it failed …