To Executive members of the University of Exeter, including Vice Chancellor Prof. Lisa Roberts, Senior Vice-President and Provost Prof. Dan Charman, Pro Vice Chancellor and Executive Dean Prof. Sallie Lamb, and Deputy Pro Vice Chancellor Prof. Joanna Bowtell,

The University of Exeter has proposed to make redundant a significant proportion of staff who are members of the Cognition Group in the Department of Psychology (Julian Basanovic, Ciro Civile, Chris Dodds, Nicolas Dumay, Lee Hogarth, Aureliu Lavric, Cassandra Lowe, Fraser Milton, Gavin Price and Félice van ‘t Wout). We are writing to urge you to immediately withdraw this proposal, which, if implemented, would cause irreparable harm to research and teaching within the University’s Department of Psychology.

The main (and indeed only) rationale for the proposed cuts to the Cognition group provided by University management is that basic cognitive psychology research does not align with the current priorities of funding bodies and that a shift away from basic to applied/translational research is needed to meet these priorities. This is despite recent statements by the UKRI Chief Executive Officer Professor Sir Ian Chapman that basic research will remain a high priority and that funding for basic research is in fact expected to increase, e.g.: "I want to emphasise that support for curiosity driven research is protected across the SR period, comprising around 50% of our investment, with the other half of our budget supporting applied research and innovative companies. This proportion is not a change, it is a reflection of the position over the past years. [...]. Funding for this will grow as the economy allows.” 

Applied and translational research already constitute a substantial portion of the Cognition Group’s portfolio, as evidenced by its current grants, publications and ongoing research and teaching activities. This includes internationally recognised research in the areas of addiction, behavioural change, numeracy, mental health, sleep and learning, education, human-AI interaction, personality disorders, cognitive interventions in children, aphantasia and epilepsy. 

We believe that the University’s rationale for reducing the Cognition Group is therefore fundamentally flawed. We are also deeply concerned that a deliberate strategic move away from basic science would set a damaging precedent for the UK academia. As the Chief of the UKRI states in the letter cited above, “Curiosity-driven research is vital to the health of the sector and is a priority for UKRI and the government because this is where the truly transformational discoveries and novel ideas are most likely to arise”.  

Finally, the proposed dismantling of the Cognition Group at Exeter would result in the loss of world-renowned expertise in areas such as numerical cognition, memory, language, face processing, and cognitive control (published in leading Psychology and Neuroscience journals such as Psychological Science, Journal of Experimental Psychology: General, Trends in Cognitive Science, Journal of Neuroscience, Cognitive Psychology, Current Biology), and cause serious harm to current and future students. 

With ~30% of academic roles in Psychology at risk, it is unclear how the Department of Psychology will continue to deliver a world-class education to an expanding student population. The British Psychological Society (BPS) requires BPS accredited degrees to provide teaching across a number of core areas, including cognitive psychology. The proposed cuts also risk compromising the staff-student ratio required by the BPS, hence jeopardising the accreditation of psychology degrees offered by the University of Exeter.

Given the profound and lasting damage to research and teaching in psychology that would result from these cuts, we urge the University of Exeter to reconsider.

Signed,