Is Less Always More? Why Research Needs the Generalists and the Specialists

There is a growing policy push for universities to specialise: to focus on their areas of research strength, consolidate excellence, and align more closely with strategic national priorities. At ARMA 2025, Steven Hill (Director of Research at Research England) invited universities to consider doing 'less'. This call has echoed across recent policy discussions.

On the surface, this makes sense. The sector is looking for solutions in a challenging financial climate. Specialisation can drive innovation, sharpen competitive advantage, and attract targeted investment.

But there’s a catch.

When research activity becomes concentrated in specific regions, it risks deepening inequalities. This isn’t just about the institutions excluded from funding, infrastructure, and talent. It’s also about the communities they serve. When deciding which universities are worthy of researching cancer, are we also deciding which communities are deserving of advanced cancer care?

Universities are deeply connected to the services we access. When research capacity is unevenly distributed, so too is the ability to respond to local challenges.

Local Strengths and Needs

Inequalities are not evenly distributed across the UK. For instance, according to the Office for National Statistics, people in the most deprived areas of England live almost a decade less in good health compared to those in the least deprived areas. These disparities are shaped by geography, deprivation, and access to services.

Yet these policy shifts risk ensuring that the skills needed to research and respond to these challenges are increasingly clustered in a handful of institutions.

If universities in regions facing the greatest health disparities are encouraged to “stick to their strengths,” and those strengths lie outside what the community needs, what happens to local capacity?

Balancing Specialists and Generalists

Specialisation can drive excellence, but generalists build resilience. We need both. When national policy prioritises one at the expense of the other, it risks reinforcing regional divides and exacerbating inequalities.

The sector has called for a new era of radical collaboration. Choosing collaboration over competition means trying to balance these tensions. It means sharing the resources, talent and knowledge. The emerging message risks encouraging the opposite.

Conclusion

Universities are being asked to specialise. But if we don’t also ask how that specialisation serves the whole country, we risk designing a research system that only serves those in the right place, at the right time.