A Cautionary Tale for Australia's Physicists and Astronomers? (December 20, 2007)

The UK's Science and Technology Facilities Council (STFC) is facing a funding shortfall of about £80 million (A$186 million) over the next three years. The council funds research in particle physics and astronomy, as well as facilities such as the Diamond synchrotron light source and a second target for the ISIS neutron source both at the Rutherford Appleton Laboratory in Oxfordshire.

The funding shortfall arises from a confluence of circumstances which includes the relative rise in the value of the Euro compared to Stirling and STFC has decided it's least undesirable course is to pull out of the international Gemini telescope project, stopping preparatory work on the proposed International Linear Collider, and reducing funds for research grants by 25%. It will also cut support for space-based scientific instruments by one-third, and reduce support for solar physics and high-energy gamma-ray astronomy.

An editorial in today's Nature makes the point:

It should not always be necessary for scientists to provide a purely economic justification for fundamental research into the nature of the Universe. But that case can be made: this research creates skills and ideas that feed into a stronger society and a stronger economy.

The withdrawal from the linear collider and from Gemini reflect badly on Britain's readiness to stand by international collaborations, and will disappoint partners who had long held the nation and its research councils in high esteem. Moreover, grants are being cut in fields where Britain has traditionally excelled, even as the STFC proposes new projects for which a strong scientific case has not been made — such as a joint robotic Moon mission with NASA.

According to Keith Mason, the council's chief executive, this lack of support from Whitehall is the product of government officials being insufficiently convinced of the economic value of physicists' and astronomers' work which emanates in particular from senior officials at the Treasury who do not consider astronomy or particle physics relevant to that department's policy of backing research that will foster business innovation.