Annex 7
PARTICLE PHYSICS AND ASTRONOMY RESEARCH COUNCIL
(PPARC)
PPARC RESEARCH INSTITUTES
PPARC has three research institutes;
— The UK Astronomy Technology Centre
(UK ATC) based in Edinburgh and wholly owned by PPARC.
— The Joint Astronomy Centre (JAC)
in Hawaii, comprises two telescopes—the James Clerk Maxwell
Telescope (JCMT) and the UK Infra-Red Telescope (UKIRT). The JAC
is owned by PPARC but is operated as a partnership between the
UK, Canada and Holland.
— The Isaac Newton Group of telescopes
(ING) in the Canary Islands. The ING is owned by PPARC but operated
as a partnership between the UK, Spain and Holland. It comprises
three telescopes;
— Isaac Newton Telescope (INT);
— William Herschel Telescope (WHT);
— Jacobus Kapteyn telescope (JKT)
(No longer operational).
In addition to these institutes PPARC also contributes
to a number of other facilities both in the UK and in 15 other
countries across 6 continents. Some of these other facilities
help serve the needs of the UK astronomical community but others
are indispensable facilities to the UK Particle Physics community.
Most notable amongst these facilities are CCLRC and CERN.
CERN is the European Organization for Nuclear
Research—an intergovernmental organisation based in Geneva
consisting of 20 countries of which the UK was a founder member.
CERN is the world's forefront particle physics facility, its establishment
in 1954 being in recognition that the scale of required facilities
was such that individual countries could no longer afford to build
their own. OSI have classified it as a UK RCI for Public Sector
Research Establishment (PSRE) purposes.
CCLRC provides support facilities for the particle
physics programme that do not exist in any one HEI and are an
essential part of the PPARC programme. Without access to the support
facilities at CCLRC and the accelerators at CERN researchers at
UK HEIs would not be able to undertake their current programme
of research.
See the end of this annex for a list of these
facilities and the extent of PPARC involvement in them.
PPARC currently provides grant funding to 49
institutions, including 43 HEIs. A significant amount of the grant
funding given to HEIs is to enable them to utilise the facilities
which PPARC contributes.
Q1. The role of RCIs in maintaining the UK
research and skills base
Achievements
PPARC's institutes are world renowned and make
an important contribution to maintaining the UK research and skills
base;
— The UK Astronomy Technology Centre
(UK ATC) is PPARC's centre for the development of astronomical
instruments, telescopes and associated systems. It complements
the instrument building capability in the universities and provides
a central focus for the UK community. It has a very strong world-wide
reputation for production of "facility-class" instruments.
These instruments include the most powerful infrared camera in
the world for UKIRT and the most powerful submillimetre camera,
SCUBA-2, for the JCMT. It is playing a leading role in the development
of instrumentation for the proposed next generation of Extremely
Large Telescopes (ELTs)—with dishes of up to 40 million
in diameter—managing the UK's R&D programme, as well
as the EU-supported ELT Instrument studies.
— The Isaac Newton Group of telescopes
(ING) has had a substantial impact on world astronomy. Between
150-200 research papers are published in refereed science journals
each year by researchers using the ING—the overwhelming
majority of these papers are produced in the researcher's own
HEI. This publication rate compares extremely well with other
comparable international facilities. Studies demonstrate that
the William Herschel Telescope (WHT) alone ranks among the top
two 4 million class telescopes in the world. The Isaac Newton
Telescope (INT) is also well ranked among the world's two million
class telescopes in terms of both impact and productivity. The
WHT is playing a leading role in the development and implementation
of novel, laser-based systems for overcoming the effects of the
atmosphere on astronomical observations, working closely with
researchers at the University of Durham.
— The James Clerk Maxwell telescope
(JCMT)—part of the Joint Astronomy Centre (JAC) has had
a substantial impact on world astronomy. Between 1998 and 2005
researchers using the JCMT's SCUBA instrument had their work cited
by other researchers nearly 15,000 times; only the Hubble Space
Telescope has bettered this. As is the case with researchers using
the ING, the overwhelming majority of this work was actually produced
in the researcher's own HEI. The JCMT has accurately measured
the amount of hydrogen peroxide in the Martian atmosphere—the
first time this has ever been done—confirming predictions
about the chemistry of the Martian atmosphere, and an important
discovery in the search for life on Mars. It has also provided
a unique insight into the cold universe and the early development
of stars and galaxies.
— The UK InfraRed Telescope (UKIRT)—part
of the Joint Astronomy Centre (JAC) is the largest telescope in
the world with a fully automatic system for responding to the
discovery of gamma ray bursts. It is playing a vital role in understanding
these extremely high energy events. It is also the world's largest
telescope dedicated solely to infrared astronomy—making
it a vital resource for astronomers throughout the world. UKIRT
is currently undertaking large-scale surveys of the sky in the
infrared, opening up our understanding of the early universe and
of our own galaxy.
Added value
PPARC's institutes make an important contribution
to maintaining the UK research and skills base by providing HEIs
with access to world-leading facilities which they otherwise would
not have. They provide an opportunity for researchers and students
at HEIs to work with scientists from other countries and serve
a very broad user community, spread over many universities.
Astronomical instrument projects have become
larger, more complex and more expensive over the last decade—to
the extent that no individual UK university has the core range
of skills nor the resources needed to construct large-scale complex
astronomical instruments. The UK ATC provides a core UK resource
of skills and capabilities needed to develop reliable and cost-effective
instrumentation and systems necessary to keep the UK at the forefront
of world astronomy. These instruments are usually constructed
in collaboration with university-based instrument scientists and
UK industrial expertise.
Instruments for the Extremely Large Telescopes
currently being developed could cost up to £40 million, and
it will only be possible to build them in large international
consortia and with strong industrial participation. The project
management and systems engineering skills which the UK ATC has
to offer are vital if the UK wishes to play a leading role in
such projects.
PPARC's telescopes provide researchers at UK
HEIs with access to facilities positioned in locations which provide
ideal observational opportunities. In some cases researchers don't
even need to visit the institutes but submit and retrieve their
data entirely via the web—saving the HEIs time and money.
Multidisciplinary advantages
Astronomical instruments provide extreme challenges
in cryogenics, mechanical engineering, optical design and fabrication,
electronics and detectors and software engineering and as such
are multi-disciplinary from an engineering point of view. Much
of the technology developed has applications outside astronomy
such as in ophthalmology. The UK ATC is a partner in multidisciplinary
partnerships in Scotland—the Scottish Universities Physics
Alliance, and the Edinburgh Research Partnership's Institute of
Integrated Systems.
Contribution to training
Our research institutes make an important contribution
to training;
— In the last three years around 300
PhD students have used PPARC research institutes.
— The UK ATC works in close partnership
with Edinburgh University's Institute for Astronomy. Both are
based on the same Royal Observatory Edinburgh site. It provides
joint supervision of five PhD students and employs two Post Doctoral
Research Associates. The students get very good exposure to state-of-the-art
technology and engineering alongside astronomy. The UK ATC is
also involved in training post-graduates and post-doctorates in
commercial awareness and knowledge transfer through the Faraday
Associates programme.
— Between 2002 and 2005, around 200
students were involved in proposals to use the telescopes at the
Isaac Newton Group of telescopes (ING).
— Between 2002 and 2005, 31 UK PhD
students included results of observations they had made at the
James Clerk Maxwell telescope (JCMT) in their theses. Approximately
70 students have participated in JCMT observations in the past
three years.
Knowledge Transfer
Knowledge Transfer has been a strong part of
UK ATC activities over the last four years. The UK ATC initiated
the Smart Optics Faraday Partnership, and is one of the "Hub
Partners" funded by the DTI. The Partnership has generated
£23 million of additional research projects, working across
academic and industrial boundaries—some of which are now
producing commercial products. It is expected that the UK ATC
will also be a partner in the new Photonics Knowledge Transfer
Network, currently under review at the DTI.
The UK ATC has been given the following funding
from the Public Sector Research Establishment (PSRE) Knowledge
Transfer Fund:
— £218k funding over three years
to exploit research carried out at both the UK ATC and the European
South Observatory (ESO).
— A share of £435k for exploitation
of research and development with the European Space Agency (ESA).
Provision of facilities/services (beyond what
HEIs offer)
Today's world-class astronomy facilities are
multi-million pound developments, usually made in collaboration
with international partners and invariably sited outside the UK
to obtain the best atmospheric conditions. PPARC's astronomy institutes
ensure that the UK takes a lead in these high technology-based
projects (which invariably require a degree of resources and competences
considerably beyond those available to individual UK universities).
— The ING and JAC provide ideal bases
for the testing and operation of university-developed instrumentation,
enabling the maximum scientific advantage to be gained from modest
HEI investment.
— Decades-long collaborations with
international partners at our observatories have fostered good
strategic relationships—which benefits UK HEIs.
— The UK ATC has recently commissioned
a large new facility designed for the assembly, testing and verification
of the next generation of instruments which will add to the existing
comprehensive facilities available to researchers at UK HEIs.
They also offer professional services to the UK astronomical community
in specialist design techniques, particularly Opto-mechanical
and in Software Engineering, as well as a service of specialist
advice on Project Management and Systems Engineering.
Science & society/public engagement activities
All PPARC research institutes are actively involved
in public engagement. For example:
— The UK ATC provides a range of activities
aimed at the public through the Royal Observatory Edinburgh Visitor
Centre, and in particular to schools and teachers. These include
a series of public lectures, open days, visits from schools, public
observing evenings and visits from professional organisations.
— In the last few years the ING has
appeared in many articles and TV events for the general public.
A number of hands-on night-time learning events for UK schools
have been held with great success. The ING's web pages are an
often visited repository for high-quality astronomical images.
Public open days and group visits attract thousands of visitors
each year.
— A science outreach specialist at
the JAC coordinates all public outreach activities such as press
releases, telescope tours and public events. The JAC website incorporates
features such as an extensive image gallery, telescope webcams
and a FAQ section. Locally, the JAC has been closely involved
with the Mauna Kea Astronomy Education Centre (MKAEC) and staff
are active in promoting JAC science to the community.
Q2. The balance between Research Council
expenditure on RCIs and grant funding
TOTAL PORTFOLIO (RESOURCE & CAPITAL)
| Expenditure (£ million)
|
| Gross | Income
| Net |
| Total expenditure | 315.018
| (29.971) | 285.047 |
| Total expenditure at HEIs | 94.723
| (16.013) | 78.710 |
| Total expenditure at RCIs (excluding CCLRC)
| 23.157 | (10.041) | 13.116
|
| Total expenditure with CCLRC and other organisations
| 44.864 | (2.263) | 42.601
|
| Expenditure on international collaborative centres
| 152.274 | (1.654) | 150.620
|
| | |
|
Notes:
All figures are in £ millions using 2004-05 audited
financial data.
The figures for CCLRC include Gross Expenditure of £8.544
million and Income of £1.197 million, giving a net expenditure
of £7.347 million for Swindon Head Office expenses (Administration
and Programme management).
The figure for the RCIs includes Gross Expenditure of £1.245
million and Income of £0.018 million, giving net expenditure
of £1.227 million for Administration expenses at the PPARC
sites.
EXPENDITURE ON RESEARCH (RESOURCE NOT CAPITAL)
| Expenditure (£ million)
|
| Gross | Income
| Net |
| Total expenditure | 284.301
| (28.754) | 255.546 |
| Total expenditure at HEIs | 78.141
| (16.013) | 62.128 |
| Total expenditure at RCIs (excluding CCLRC)
| 20.183 | (10.021) | 10.161
|
| Total expenditure with CCLRC and other organisations
| 33.703 | (1.066) | 32.637
|
| Expenditure on international collaborative centres
| 152.274 | (1.654) | 150.620
|
| | |
|
Notes:
All figures are in £millions using 2004-05 audited financial
data.
EXPENDITURE ON TRAINING
| Expenditure (£ million)
|
| Gross | Income
| Net |
| Total expenditure | 15.330 |
(0.000) | 15.330 |
| Total expenditure at HEIs | 15.114
| (0.000) | 15.114 |
| Total expenditure at RCIs (excluding CCLRC)
| 0.067 | (0.000) | 0.067
|
| Total expenditure with CCLRC and other organisations
| 0.149 | (0.000) | 0.149
|
| Expenditure on international collaborative centres
| 0.000 | (0.000) | 0.000
|
| | |
|
Notes:
All figures are in £millions using 2004-05 audited financial
data.
The figure for "CCLRC and Others" represents domestic
Training for staff at Swindon Office.
The figure for RCIs represents domestic Training expenditure
for staff at the PPARC Sites.
How is the overall level of funding to RCIs balanced against
support for research in HEIs, and how does this relate to your
Council's overall science strategy/vision?
One of the great strengths of the PPARC programme is that
it is science driven. This means that high-priority programmes
are delivered wherever the relevant skills and expertise exists—whether
this is at an HEI or RCI.
In some PPARC programmes the UK ATC has a central support
role—it is only in competition for resources with HEIs when
there are competing science proposals chasing limited funds. In
such cases however decisions are always taken on scientific priority—following
independent peer-review—as opposed to PPARC being motivated
to maintain a level of capacity funding in our own establishments.
This is true of both instrument building and research.
The two island observatory sites are providing a service
to the UK astronomical community, but the ongoing need for these
facilities—and the level of development and support they
receive—is subjected to regular peer-review in the UK and
through discussions and negotiations with our international partners.
PPARC funding strategy
The Science Committee (a body of senior astronomers and particle
physicists from UK universities and institutes) advises PPARC's
Council and Executive on all aspects of the PPARC sciences with
respect to long-term strategies, priorities and plans, the broad
distribution of funding across the different areas of the PPARC
science programme and on specific major investment decisions.
The Science Committee maintains a "Science Road Map",
a strategy document which sets out and prioritizes the major project
opportunities likely to arise within the next 10 years or so,
and invites and assesses proposals for major new projects.
The PPARC Executive uses this science strategy to prioritize
and develop a "funding plan" for approval by PPARC Council.
When reviewing the performance and case for continued support
of an institute PPARC uses similar criteria to those set out in
the Quinquennial Review for defining the purposes of institutes,
especially the need to;
— Provide a national capability and source of advice
to Government.
— Create a critical mass of research capability,
effort and expertise.
— Provide a full-time research-centred environment.
— Open up scientific career paths and opportunities
which may not be available within university or faculty structures.
— Allow greater investment in capital equipment
and the skills of support staff.
Reviews of existing facilities and projects
In 2005 all existing facilities and projects were subject
to a rigorous programmatic review to evaluate a number of factors,
including;
— Scientific impact, including contribution made
to training.
— Public engagement activities.
The Science Committee has agreed to conduct such reviews
biennially to evaluate PPARC's current facilities and experiments
and to establish their relative priority for further investment.
The reviews will provide an analysis of past performance and productivity
and will cover all running facilities and experiments. Future
or planned programmes and opportunities will be assessed to prioritise
which the UK should be involved in, and at what level, to ensure
the scale of investment will deliver a sufficiently high science
return to the UK.
Q3. The rationale behind the different approaches adopted
by the Research Councils to supporting RCIs and the case for greater
harmonisation of practice
The PPARC programme is science driven. This means that high-priority
programmes are delivered wherever the relevant skills and expertise
exists—whether this is at an HEI or an RCI.
PPARC funding decisions are always taken on scientific priority
criteria (following independent peer-review)—as opposed
to PPARC being motivated to maintain a level of capacity funding
in its own RCIs.
Should the proposed new Large Facilities Research Council
be established, the issue of a need to maintain a level of capacity
in RCIs will be more significant. However the joint PPARC/CCLRC
submission to the Next Steps consultation advocates a science
driven ethos and does not envisage that the current procedures
would need to change (although it is recognized that there would
be more challenges in applying this at large facilities such as
the Harwell and Daresbury sites).
Greater harmonisation of practice
Whilst PPARC recognizes that different models exist—such
as those adopted for MRC institutes—the model which PPARC
has adopted is correct for our scientific programme and community.
The world-leading position UK Astronomy and Particle Physics demonstrates
this.
From the PPARC perspective there is no strong case for the
harmonisation of practices for supporting RCIs. The diverse range
of RCIs and their remits does not readily lend itself to harmonisation.
Greater harmonization of practices could conceivably preclude
PPARC from being fully involved in future international establishments
and projects and consequently limit our ability to provide UK
researchers with access to the state-of-the-art facilities necessary
for competitive research.
Q6. A review of progress on current reorganisations involving
RCIs, including the Centre for Ecology and Hydrology, the National
Institute for Medical Research and the Roslin Institute
N/A
RESEARCH FACILITIES PPARC CONTRIBUTES TO
| Facility | Status & PPARC involvement
| Cost to PPARC |
| The Anglo-Australian Observatory—AAO located in Australia
| The Observatory is currently funded equally by Australia & the UK. PPARC has agreed to a phased withdrawal by 2010.
| PPARC currently contributes approx £1.5 million to the operation and development of the AAO (2005-06).
|
| Auger South located in Argentina—Cosmic Ray Observatory
| Part of the Pierre Auger Observatory—an international collaboration funded by organisations in 14 countries
| ~£0.2 million pa |
| Stanford Linear Accelerator Centre (located in USA)—The BaBar particle physics experiment
| The experiment is being performed by a world-wide collaboration of several hundred physicists, with 11 UK institutes involved
| The total annual cost to PPARC of exploitation is £1.6 million—£1.8 million.
|
| Fermi Lab, Chicago—The CDF, DO, MINOS
| All of these experiments involve large international collaborations
| The cost to PPARC of participation in CDF is currently £1.4 million pa
The cost of participation in DO is currently £1.4 million pa
PPARC contributed £5.344 million to the construction phase of the MINOS experiment
|
| CUTLASS—radars located in Finland and Iceland
| A UK Solar Terrestrial Physics National Facility run by the University of Leicester.
PPARC will withdraw funding for CUTLASS in 2008.
| The operational costs of CUTLASS are approx £150k pa
|
| EISCAT radar facilities for solar terrestrial physics located in Norway, Sweden and Finland
| EISCAT is an international consortium of seven countries. Two more countries—China and Ukraine will join the association by 2008.
The UK is a 23% shareholder in EISCAT and has just committed to a new five year membership, assuring participation until at least 2011
| The total UK investment in both the EISCAT Association and the EISCAT Support is approx £900k pa
|
| The Gemini Observatory—consists of twin telescopes; one located in Hawaii and the other in Paranal, Chile
| The Gemini Observatory is owned by a partnership of seven countries.
The UK has approximately a 23% share in Gemini
| PPARC contributed £3.9 million to Gemini operations in 2005-06 together with £0.3 million for the UK Gemini national office, based at Oxford
|
| GEO 600 & LIGO | GEO 600 is a joint German-British gravitational wave (GW) detector located near Hanover, Germany.
LIGO is comprised of two observatories in the US.
| In 1996 PPARC awarded £1.0 million (£0.9 million to Glasgow University and £0.12 million to Cardiff University) over four years to enable the UK to contribute to the capital construction of GEO600. At present PPARC funding for Glasgow University is at a level of some £1.3 million pa and that for Cardiff University about £250k pa
|
| H.E.S.S. Phase I—an array of four high energy, telescopes located in Namibia
| UK involvement in the HESS cosmic ray telescopes is via the University of Durham
| £0.13million-£0.2 million per year for Durham contribution
|
| H1 & ZEUS particle physics experiments based at DESY in Hamburg
| H1 is a collaboration of about 400 scientists of 39 institutes from 12 countries throughout the world
ZEUS is a collaboration of 55 institutes from 16 countries
| UK cost of exploitation is approx £1 million pa for each (H1 & Zeus)
|
| CERN—world's largest particle physics research organisation based in Geneva
| CERN is an international organisation consisting of 20 countries including the UK.
| The UK contribution to CERN in 2005-06 was £79.5 million
|
| The Liverpool Telescope based in La Palma in the Canary Islands
| The telescope is owned and operated by Liverpool John Moores University. Funding for the project comes from a number of sources including PPARC
| PPARC contributed £1.7 million to the operation of the telescope in 2005-06
|
| MERLIN—the UK's national radio imaging facility (centred on Jodrell Bank, Manchester).
| MERLIN is operated on behalf of PPARC by the University of Manchester. MERLIN is part of a world-wide array of radio telescopes called VLBI
| PPARC contributes around £2.1 million pa to MERLIN operations
|
| QUaD—a gravitational wave experiment based at the South Pole
| The UK is 50% partner with Stanford University
| Cost to PPARC ~£1.0 million so far for construction. Data analysis effort is funded on both Cardiff and Edinburgh universities rolling grants
|
| SAMNET—the UK array which measures fluctuations of the Earth's Magnetic Fields at five sites in the UK
| SAMNET will no longer be a PPARC supported national facility from 1 April 2007
| The total investment in SAMNET is approx £80k pa
|
| European Space Technology Centre (ESTEC) in Noordwijk, Holland
| Primary space systems and satellite development centre for the European Space Agency (ESA) of which the UK is a 7% partner in the organisation (and a 17% partner in the science programme).
| The UK subscription to ESA in 2005-06 was £53.3 million
|
| SPEAR—ground based radar facility co-located with the EISCAT Svalbard Radar. (Svalbard is an Island owned by Norway)
| SPEAR is a UK Solar Terrestrial Physics National Facility run by the University of Leicester
| The build cost of SPEAR was £2.4 million and operating costs were £0.45 million up to April 2005
|
| SuperWASP—consists of two observatories one on La Palma in the Canary Islands and one in South Africa. The observatories monitor for extra-solar planets
| SuperWASP comprises a consortium of eight academic institutions which include several UK universities and the Instituto de Astrofisica de Canarias and the Isaac Newton Group of telescopes.
Funding for SuperWASP came from a number of sources including PPARC, Queen's University Belfast, Open University, the Royal Society, St Andrews University and Andor Technology.
| The SuperWASP instrument has cost approximately £0.4 million
|
| UK Solar System Data Centre (UKSSDC) based at the Rutherford Appleton Laboratory. The UK's national archive and data centre for Solar System science. It is an extension of the World Data Centre (WDC) for Solar Terrestrial Physics
| The UKSSDC is run by the Rutherford Appleton Laboratory. The UKSSDC provides data services to many UK organisations including the BBC, MoD and BAE Systems.
| The total investment in UKSSDC since becoming a National Facility in 1998 is £1.6 million.
|
| Very Large Telescope (VLT) located in Chile
| The VLT is owned by the European Southern Observatory (ESO) a Treaty Organisation of which the UK is one of 12 member countries
| PPARC contributed £15.7 million as its subscription to ESO in 2005-06 together with a joining fee of £7.1 million and various in-kind contributions. Membership of ESO provides access to the VLT.
|
| UK Dark Matter Experiment. An underground experiment based in Yorkshire to detect dark matter particles
| A UK-led collaboaration with contributions from several UK and non-UK universities. Funded until March 2007
| The current award is for £2.1 million
|
| | |
| 
