This site is intended to provide information and a place to post comments for neutron and muon scientists regarding the STFC funding deficit. If you are new to neutron and muon science, then there is some background information and links on the pages “What are neutrons and muons” and also in the “Media Coverage“.
- 09 June 2010: Large Facilities Funding Model project (RCUK)
- 30 March 2010: £100m for jewel in UK science crown
- 04 March 2010: New Arrangements for STFC
- Ministerial Review of STFC (STFC)
- STFC funding revamped to protect national facilties (THES)
- Could radical surgery save UK Physics funding agency? (Nature Blog)
- Have they fixed the broken STFC (S-word)
- Lord Drayson’s plan to save the STFC (Times online)
- Response to restructuring of the STFC (IoP)
- UK Physicists welcome reearch council reforms
- Broader view will help to shape policy (Bob Kirby-Harris, IoP members only). Of the IoP’s submission to the Drayson Review: “Several members have let me know that they disagree with the Institute’s recommendations and feel strongly that we should have consulted more widely in this case. I recognise that we could have sought a wider range of views“.
- The IoP on Climate Change: Times, Guardian
- 05 February 2010: STFC Review final reports from PALS and PPAN
- Cassini Mission to Saturn is to lose British Involvement (Times)
- STFC: What went wrong (Prof Jon Butterworth, New Scientist S-word blog)
- 29 Janaury 2010: IoP Survey of Academic Appointments in Physics
- 29 January 2010: Review of STFC Structural Issues
- 28 January 2010: False Alarms & Debt crisis threatens UK Science (NatureNews)
- 26 January 2010: News from STFC Council
- 13 January 2010: The Impact of Spending Cuts on Science and Scientific Research. Science and Technology Committee Announcement. Responses by 27th January 2010.
- Latest News
- 09 February 2010: Transcript of Oral Evidence from 03/02/10
- 07 January 2010: UK Facilities Cuts ‘fair and balanced’ (Prof John Womersley, STFC Director of Science Programmes, New Scientist blog)
- Physicists Unite (blog edit from Research Fortnight Editorial)
- UK Facilities crisis: cock-up or conspiracy & the fallout could be devastating (Brian Cox)
- STFC cuts will lead to “brain drain” (THE)
- 22 December 2009: HEFCE Higher Education Funding 2010-11 (Letter from The Rt Hon Lord Mandelson)
- 16 December 2009: STFC SCIENCE PROGRAMME PRIORITORISATION 2010-2015
- FAQs
- Media Presentation Slides
- STFC Discussion Forum
- STFC Education and Training Programme Announcement
- Science and Technology Committee Announcement
- Statement from Lord Drayson & on the BBC
- Responses from IoP, RSC, RAS & Russell Group
- Statement from Particle Physics Community
- Funding Cuts ‘mark sad day for British Science’ (Guardian)
- STFC Slashes Funding for astronomy and physics (THE). Correction (THE)
- STFC could lose oversight of international links (THE)
- Comment in Chemistry World & Physics Today
- Media Blogs: Nature, FT, New Scientist, Science, Telegraph
- Times Article, Letter
- Annual Particle Physics Theory meeting: STFC slides
- 06 October 2009: STFC Programme Reviews
- 04 October 2009: Sunday Times Article on STFC and CERN funding And some responses:
- 02 October 2009: Extended Operations for ISIS Research Centre. The world-leading ISIS research centre will operate for an additional 30 days in 2009-10. “The extension will ensure that UK scientists have access to neutron facilities during the Institut Laue-Langevin shut-down commencing in November 2009,” STFC Chief Operating Officer Professor Richard Wade said. “I am delighted that it has been possible to provide continuity in access to neutron facilities for the benefit of the UK researchers who rely on these powerful analytical machines. Re-profiling ISIS operations within a fixed operating budget has allowed the extra 30 days in 2009-10 and accommodates a maintenance shutdown commencing in August 2010.
- 04 September 2009: New STFC Chair visits Rutherford Appleton Laboratory.
- 22 July 2009: STFC launches “A new vision for new times“. Commitments include: “working to achieve the greatest return from the long term investments in research facilities and infrastructure that have been made over the past decades“. Note: the STFC Vision is 4.7Mb and is not easy on your printer. If you just want to look at the text here is a “A new vision for new times text only“.
- 02 July 2009: The cut to the ISIS budget is £1.7M (-6%) and potentially another £0.6M, and will lead to a reduction of the operations from 150 to 120 days (the National Audit Office concluded that ISIS should run at 220 days per year: report). This is on top of a cut in FY 08/09 by £2.7M (-10%) which forced reduction of the operations from 180 to 150 days and the closure of two instruments. This means that the scientific programme recommended by the FAPs in June 2009 and commissioning of the £145M Second Target Station will be at risk.
- 25 June 2009: STFC has announced its budget for the Financial Year 09/10. STFC received a near cash allocation of £490.7M, representing an increase of £61.8M above baseline allocations, made up of £41.8M in compensation for exchange rate movements plus a £20M loan (the latter to be repayed before end of CSR07). STFC’s International subscriptions rise by 15.1%. European Space Agency up by 23% to £103.2M; CERN up by 6.9% to £85.6M; European Southern Observatory up by 13.9% to £29.3M; ILL up by 10.7% to £18.4M; European Synchrotron Radiation Facility up by 25.7% to £10.7M. But please note: DBIS are providing compensation for the effects of currency fluctuation above a £3M cap
- 30 April 2008: STFC’s Budget Allocations for the CSR 2007: 2008-09 = £623M, 2009-10 = £630M, 2010-11 = £651M. Near cash allocations: 2008-09 = £432M, 2009-10 = £429M, 2010-11 = £433M.
- The Delivery Plan (paragraphs 42 & 43) sets out STFC’s strategy for meeting its mission following the allocation. This strategy is focused around two key factors. First, a number of major new facilities in which STFC (and its predecessor Councils) have invested heavily are coming online during CSR07: Diamond, ISIS TS2 and the Large Hadron Collider (LHC) at CERN, Geneva, Switzerland. Exploiting these facilities is STFC’s highest priority. Second, STFC is planning a “step change in knowledge exchange and economic impact” by developing Daresbury and Harwell as Science and Innovation Campuses. The vision is to use these campuses to act as focal points for bringing together industry and academic researchers. This will be achieved by creating “internationally-competitive critical mass”. STFC’s vision for each campus differs. The plan for Daresbury is “to focus on creating a national technological capability in the areas of computational science and accelerator and detector R&D for next generation facilities”. The plan for Harwell is based around STFC’s major facilities: Diamond, ISIS and the Central Laser Facility, as well as facilities in space systems, imaging and sensors.
- Key Decisions & Projects (points 44 & 45) One of the most important decisions that STFC has made, as mentioned above, is to follow through on its investment in the major large facilities: LHC, Diamond and ISIS TS2. Work relating to these projects is of the highest priority and the rest of STFC’s programme is tailored accordingly. Given the level of investment in these projects, approximately £600 million in the last three years, STFC had little choice but to follow this path.
