APPENDIX 52
Memorandum submitted by the Council for
the Mathematical Sciences
We are pleased that the outcome of the recent
public spending review has resulted in the continued favourable
treatment of science funded by the DTI. We hope similarly favourable
treatment will be forthcoming for research funded by other ministries.
We are sure that you will understand that our concern is for mathematics
and the health of our subject in the broadest sense. We particularly
welcome the increasing evidence of the acknowledgement of the
importance of mathematics both in its own right and in an underpinning
role across the whole of science and technology; particularly
of the role that mathematics can play in wealth creation in the
UK.
On this underpinning role, we would bring to
your attention the first paragraph of the Objectives of the Mathematics
Programme of EPSRC, (see: http://www.epsrc.ac.uk):
"Mathematics is a pervasive discipline that
underpins all other disciplines and contributes to advances made
in them for the benefit of their user communities. New developments
in other disciplines can lead to novel mathematical approaches,
while unifying concepts in mathematics bring together apparently
diverse applications in different fields. Mathematics is therefore
a vital component of a healthy science and engineering base."
We have noted with satisfaction the increase
in the EPSRC mathematics budget of 85 per cent over three years,
even though this was from a very low initial base. We believe
that it will be necessary to continue this rate of increase in
the future, if mathematics is to play its essential supporting
role to the development of other sciences and technology.
9 January 2001
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