Hundreds of eminent scientists including Professor Richard Dawkins and six Nobel prizewinners are campaigning against plans to put an end to university research that is deemed worthless.

Research will be rated and funded according to its potential economic impact in a shake-up of university finance that the scientists say will wipe out accidental discoveries.

But the academics say that most scientific discoveries to date would not have survived the new test set in the plan, the Research Excellence Framework (REF), from the higher education funding councils.

More than 200 chemists, physists and medics say the measures will mean universities will lack the cash to fund academics to undertake the kind of “blue-sky thinking” that led to the discovery of DNA, X-rays and penicillin.

They have signed a statement to be presented to the council which says the plan to make funding conditional on the “perceived economic and social benefits” will be counterproductive.

“The REF proposals are founded on a lack of understanding of how knowledge advances. It is often difficult to predict which research will create the greatest practical impact,” they say.

“If implemented, these proposals risk undermining support for basic research across all disciplines and may well lead to an academic brain drain to countries such as the United States that continue to value fundamental research.”

The spirit of adventure and academic freedom allow scientists to push back boundaries of knowledge, the statement says.

Six Nobel Laureates have signed, including Professor Sir Tim Hunt, of Cancer Research UK, and Professor Sir John Walker, of the University of Cambridge, a Chemistry Laureate.

Richard Dawkins, author, evolutionary biologist and former Oxford University professor for the public understanding of science, has given his backing to the campaign.

The statement adds: “We, therefore, call on the UK funding councils to withdraw the current REF proposals and to work with academics and researchers on creating a funding regime which supports and fosters basic research in our universities and colleges rather than discourages it.”

Professor Donald Braben, of University College London, said many crucial scientific discoveries emerged by accident rather than design.

“Sir Lawrence Bragg, a Nobel Laureate, raised serious objections to Watson and Crick’s proposed use of X-ray crystallography,” he said. “Bragg was an expert. Neither Crick nor Watson had previously used X-rays. But they went ahead anyway and discovered the double helix structure for DNA.”

Twenty-five per cent of research funding will be awarded on the basis of economic and social impact under the plan.

Sally Hunt, general secretary of the University and College Union, said: “History has taught us that some of the biggest breakthroughs have come from curiosity-driven research. The new proposals are not supported by UK academics, nor are they in operation anywhere else in the world.

“Untested and unwanted, they will damage our international reputation.”

The panel of 14 looking at the plans, put forward by the Higher Education Funding Council for England, has only three academics. Critics said the proposals were without precedent and should not be brought in without a proper trial.

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