BBC Contemplating Reality TV Show to Decide How Research Councils UK Block Grants Are Dispersed | The Scholarly Kitchen

"The Research Councils UK (RCUK) policy on open access (OA) comes into effect today. One of the major questions has been exactly how the so-called block grant will be fairly and transparently allocated to, 1) each university and, 2) competing academic groups within those universities. Today, as a result of a Freedom of Information Act 2000 request, some ‘good old fashioned sleuthing,’ and a tip-off from a fella we met in a pub car park we can reveal the truth — secret discussions between the Director General and Chief Executive Officer of the Rustle Group of ‘leading UK universities’ Sir Godber Evans, Professor Philip Swallow, Vice Chancellor of the University of Rummidge, and producers at the BBC will enable the block grant dispersal process to be televised. We first got wind of what was afoot when we hacked intercepted stumbled across an email from Professor Swallow to Sir Godber. The contents are reproduced below . . ."