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Research funding that was redistributed to newer universities following the 2008 research assessment exercise will in part be returned to the traditional elite.

A handful of members of the Russell Group of large research-intensive universities, along with some specialist colleges, are the biggest winners in terms of research funding in the 2010-11 grant allocations.

About half of the members of the Russell Group will see above-inflation increases in their recurrent grant for research after the Higher Education Funding Council for England rejigged the 2010-11 funding formula to favour "world-leading" research.

The largest overall rise goes to the 51¹ú²úÊÓƵ of Oxford, which will have its total research income increased by ?7 million (a 6 per cent rise compared with this year). It is followed by 51¹ú²úÊÓƵ College London and the 51¹ú²úÊÓƵ of Cambridge, which are both up by more than ?4 million (about 4 per cent).

To fund these increases, other institutions - particularly newer universities that had "pockets of research excellence" that were rewarded following RAE 2008 - face real-term cuts.

The 51¹ú²úÊÓƵ of Worcester and Staffordshire 51¹ú²úÊÓƵ will both lose more than 10 per cent of their research funding, although the overall sums involved are relatively small.

As Times Higher Education has reported, Hefce said that rejigging the funding formula to favour 4* work would "provide an initial step towards increased concentration".

An extra ?32 million was added to the total research grant this year to counter the effects of inflation, which Hefce calculated at 2 per cent.

The total sum for 2010-11 is ?1.6 billion, of which ?1.1 billion is mainstream quality-related research funding.

Overall, the Russell Group universities' share will increase from 62.2 to 62.6 per cent.

Other university groupings - the 1994 Group, the 51¹ú²úÊÓƵ Alliance, Million+ and GuildHE - will all see their pots shrink by small amounts to accommodate the change.

However, not all of the newer members will lose out: the 51¹ú²úÊÓƵ of Huddersfield will gain ?200,000 (up 9.9 per cent), while London Metropolitan 51¹ú²úÊÓƵ and the 51¹ú²úÊÓƵ of Bedfordshire both stand to gain more than 6 per cent.

Across the sector, 37 institutions will see higher-than-inflation rises in research funding, while 85 will face real-term losses.

Among the members of the Russell Group that will lose research income are the 51¹ú²úÊÓƵ of Liverpool, down ?448,000 (1.2 per cent), and Newcastle 51¹ú²úÊÓƵ, down ?170,000 (0.5 per cent).

zoe.corbyn@tsleducation.com