Research Councils UK presented their future vision for UK research to an invited audience of the academic community and research users at a meeting held in London on 6th April 2009. A series of presentations were given covering future focuses and priorities for RCUK, followed by a panel discussion and questions from the floor. The panel was chaired by Sir Alan Langlands, Chief Executive of HEFCE and consisted of:
Professor Philip Esler, AHRC Chief Executive
Steve Visscher, BBSRC Deputy Chief Executive
Professor David Delpy, EPSRC Chief Executive
Professor Ian Diamond, ESRC Chief Executive
Sir Leszek Borysiewicz, MRC Chief Executive
Professor Alan Thorpe, NERC Chief Executive
Professor Keith Mason, STFC Chief Executive
Iain Gray, Chief Executive of the Technology Strategy Board.
On behalf of Research Councils UK, Professor Ian Diamond, Chair of RCUK, wrote to Lord Drayson, Minister of Science in DIUS, to inform him of the success of the event.
Dear Lord Drayson,
I thought I should inform you that the RCUK event, 'Research for our future', on 6 April took place very successfully.
As you are no doubt aware, the intention was for all Chief Executives to speak on behalf of RCUK, and present to a wider audience the priorities we outlined to you in response to your recent letter. We were delighted to be joined in the concluding Panel session by Alan Langlands (representing all the Funding Bodies) and Iain Gray, so we were able to present a coherent front right across the publicly funded research base.
176 delegates attended the event and their reactions were extremely positive. An audio recording of the event, including both talks and the Panel question session, can be accessed using the following link http://www.rcuk.ac.uk/research/future.htm. I also attach a copy of the brochure which we gave out on the day and a hard copy of the presentation given by Chief Executives.
I do hope you will share our sense of achievement and enthusiasm at the success of this event.
Ian Diamond
Read the progamme here 
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View the presentations here .
Read the notes of the panel debate here .
Download the audio recording of the event here.