The UK Research Councils are the biggest public funders of cutting-edge research in the UK, spending around £3 billion every year. Our work affects everyone, whether you're interested in engineering, economics or English literature. As well as developing and promoting world-leading research, an important part of our job is to support researchers and provide them with training. We are the largest funder of research training, supporting over 30,000 researchers at any one time, including 15,500 doctoral students, 10,000 research staff in universities, 4,000 research staff in research institutes and 2,000 research fellows.
The Research Councils published a joint Research Careers and Diversity strategy in January 2007 which takes forward our ambitions in this area. To complement the launch of the formal strategy, a Research Careers brochure has also been produced to highlight recent successes and outline the five aims of the new strategy.
RCUK Research Careers and Diversity Strategy
This formal document outlines the full Research Careers and Diversity strategy and future developments and targets under each of the five aims.
RCUK Research Careers and Diversity Strategy 
RCUK Research Careers: A strategy for success
This document sets out the five strands of the strategy describing how we will build on past achievements and work towards future goals. It also highlights examples of activities that have proved particularly successful and profiles some of the talented people who are carving out a research career in this country.
RCUK Research Careers: A strategy for success