New
Scientist: Damaging funding cuts to UK physics have left
the UK looking like an "unreliable" and "incompetent" partner
for international science,
according
to a damning report by politicians. Most of the blame for
the fiasco is pinned on the head of the research council behind
the cuts.
The UK Parliament's Innovation, Universities, Science and Skills committee examined the causes of the physics funding crisis which emerged in December 2007. The Science and Technology Facilities Council â the UK's main funding body for physics and astronomy, and which looks after some of the largest science centres in the country â was faced with a deficit of £80m after an unfavourable government spending review last year.
To plug the hole, the STFC withdrew from key international physics projects including the International Linear Collider, the Gemini Observatory and ground-based solar terrestrial physics. The sweeping cuts also left some university physics departments in fear of closure.
The move stunned physicists, who had received little warning that UK involvement in the projects was in jeopardy. They argued that the measures were taken with little warning or consultation. Today's 55-page report, based on evidence provided by STFC bosses, civil servants and physicists at three hearings earlier this year, comes to a similar conclusion.
The report condemns the decision-making process behind the cuts as "ineffective" and "secretive" and describes the STFC's peer-review system as "weak". Updated: 1:24 PM ESTAccording to a report in The Register, Keith Mason, the head of the Science and Technology Facilities Council is now under pressure to resign over his handling of the budget cuts.
The UK Parliament's Innovation, Universities, Science and Skills committee examined the causes of the physics funding crisis which emerged in December 2007. The Science and Technology Facilities Council â the UK's main funding body for physics and astronomy, and which looks after some of the largest science centres in the country â was faced with a deficit of £80m after an unfavourable government spending review last year.
To plug the hole, the STFC withdrew from key international physics projects including the International Linear Collider, the Gemini Observatory and ground-based solar terrestrial physics. The sweeping cuts also left some university physics departments in fear of closure.
The move stunned physicists, who had received little warning that UK involvement in the projects was in jeopardy. They argued that the measures were taken with little warning or consultation. Today's 55-page report, based on evidence provided by STFC bosses, civil servants and physicists at three hearings earlier this year, comes to a similar conclusion.
The report condemns the decision-making process behind the cuts as "ineffective" and "secretive" and describes the STFC's peer-review system as "weak". Updated: 1:24 PM ESTAccording to a report in The Register, Keith Mason, the head of the Science and Technology Facilities Council is now under pressure to resign over his handling of the budget cuts.
