Memorandum submitted by the Faculty of
Mathematical and Physics Sciences UCL (FC 25)
IMPACT OF
STFC CUTS ON
UCL FACULTY OF
MATHEMATICAL AND
PHYSICAL SCIENCES
1. This submission is an addition to a more
general submission sent centrally from UCL. Here we summarise
the effects of the continuing crisis in STFC on the faculty of
Mathematical and Physics Sciences in particular.
SPECIFICS OF
THE LATEST
ROUND OF
CUTS
2. Cuts in PhD studentships probably translates
to one or two studentships per year over the college. Not financially
very significant, but serious for the groups concerned (~15% cut).
3. Fellowship success rates can be expected
to reduce pro rata by a similar amount. The abolition of the PDRA
fellowship round after the proposals had been submitted looked
calculated to anger and demoralise the brightest of this year's
cohort on what was for most their first ever grant application.
4. We expect our large rolling grants in
Particle & Astrophysics/Space to be cut by at least 15% depending
on how the cuts are implemented. This will be several £100k/yr
income lost. This is likely mean a loss of engineering and support
capability (redundancies for skilled staff) as well as a reduction
in post doc opportunities. Smaller responsive-mode grants will
also be hit, especially in Astronomy.
5. Regarding specific projects, our outstanding
science programme is vindicated, in that our major projects are
generally highly ranked. However, even the highest ranked projects
are suffering cuts and whether they remain viable in some cases
is in doubt.
6. There is very little breadth left in
the STFC programme areas. Initiating any new project is going
to be very tough.
7. There will be (currently unquantifiable)
damage to retention and recruitment (foreign students and researchers)
due to UK cutting science while most of our competitors (US, France,
Germany…) invest for the future.
GENERAL
8. STFC has continued to oversee the destruction
of much of the UK's reputation as a good place to do science,
and also a significant transfer of resource from universities
to industry and the central labs. Perhaps the most worrying aspects
are:
9. The fact that STFC was underfunded and
failing has been known for nearly two years, but there has been
no political will to fix it (though at least Lord Drayson recently
acknowledged the problem).
10. The perception is that the inspirational
science under STFC's responsibility is neglected or disfavoured
by the government.
11. We also note with concern a continued
pressure across the research funding base to spend on projects
in industry even when this is not obviously the best science value
for money.
12. The cumulative effect is the perception
amongst those considering a career in science that the UK does
not have the required ambition or vision to support them. There
is still no real strategy as to how the UK invests in and exploits
facilities (UK and elsewhere). Unless rapidly rectified, this
will adversely affect UCL's recruitment and retention of students,
postdocs, technical staff and academics across a swathe of physical
sciences.
Dean Prof R Catlow FRS
Vice-dean (research)
Prof J M Butterworth
Faculty of Mathematical Physics Sciences
University College London
January 2010
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