UK science funding crisis

[purpletigron]

The UK is currently facing a major science funding crisis, far worse than many of our 'economic competitors'. Fundamental physics is being particularly badly hit.

I have just written to my MP to protest in detail.

These blogs, written by UK professional scientists, give a lot more background:

http://pacrowther.staff.shef.ac.uk/stfc.html
http://telescoper.wordpress.com
http://andyxl.wordpress.com

If you are unimpressed, and you have a UK MP, you might consider writing to them: http://www.writetothem.com/

Comments

[makyo.livejournal.com]

I started drafting a letter to my MP a couple of days ago, and will try to finish it and send it off soon. Regrettably, he's an ultra-loyalist, non-boat-rocking New Labour backbencher - he's a PPS, and regularly uses "as a member of the government" as an excuse for not criticising government or party policy (although I tend to think that doing the odd bit of photocopying for a junior minister hardly counts as being a member of the government).

I'll be making the point that since he has two universities in his constituency, voting for massive cuts in higher education and science would be actively detrimental to the people he's supposed to be representing, and that he might want to think about that carefully with a general election coming up soon.

I'd be interested to know what you wrote, if you're willing to post a precis.

Written as a former astrophysicist ...

[purpletigron.livejournal.com]

Because of international treaty-bound commitments, the 'headline' cuts in science funding for areas such as particle physics and astrophysics are falling disproportionately on British-led work. This translates into a roughly 25% cut in UK-led astrophysics, for example.

The 2008 allocation to STFC, which Lord Drayson presents as a 13.6% increase was not in 'spendable money'. The 'Near-Cash Increase' was well below inflation.

Other CERN, ESA, ESO etc. members do not pay for their subscriptions to these international projects from their national science budget. Their science budgets are thus protected e.g. from currency fluctuations.

UK science, particularly fundamental physics, is being faced with unsustainable cuts which will seriously damage not only research, but recruitment of young people into science. There is a double blow because our economic competitors such as the USA are boosting science funding to help stimulate their economies. The funding proposals from the Government essentially sells off the future of UK fundamental physics to pay for their current economic failures.