The lamentable truth is we cannot afford the researchers we already have because most UK universities are in a financial crisis. That crisis is due to immigration policies that reduced the UK's appeal to international students, who were contributing billions to the economy in fees, rent, food etc

I'd be keen to join - I'm at the Science Policy Research Unit @ University of Sussex, so the clue is in my affiliation I guess.

What does the long list look like? As a social scientist, it's good to have ammunition to fend off the sceptics - but I think some more economically influential ideas are needed (coming from a country where the PM essentially disregarded the validity of sociology in the 1980s).

A grant scheme could work better than a visa scheme - but that would cost money.

The main way seems to be seeking autonomy for more decision making. The scope for this may increase as the unit becomes more established.