Established on 1 April 2018 by the Higher Education and Research Act 2017, UKRI brought nine organisations into one unified body.[1][2] UKRI was created following a report by Sir Paul Nurse, the President of the Royal Society, who recommended the merger in order to increase integrative cross-disciplinary research.[3]
Working in partnership with universities, research organisations, businesses, charities, and government, its mission is to foster research and development within the United Kingdom and create a positive "impact"—"push the frontiers of human knowledge and understanding", "deliver economic impact", and "create social and cultural impact".[2] The first Chief Executive Officer of UKRI was the immunologist Professor Sir Mark Walport.[4] He was succeeded on 29 June 2020, by plant biologist Professor Dame Ottoline Leyser.[5]
^Figures from summing breakdown in budget outturn excluding administrative spend from the "Annual Report and Accounts 2019–2020". UK Research and Innovation. 16 July 2020. Retrieved 29 August 2020.