A report looking into handling of the "funding crisis" in physics research has concluded that Britain has been left looking like an "unreliable" and "incompetent" partner for international science - reports the BBC.
The report, published by the House of Commons innovation, universities, science and skills committee, said that "urgent changes must be made".
The Science and Technology Facilities Council (STFC), which looks after some of the largest science centres in Britain, was faced with a deficit of £80m (less than five days worth of our net payments to the EU) after an unfavourable government spending review last year.
The council has had to try to reprioritise its spending but this has meant that some projects are now threatened with closure.
Facilities with an uncertain future include an upgrade to the iconic Lovell telescope at Jodrell Bank in Cheshire, the Daresbury National Laboratory and the UK infra-red telescope (Ukirt) - the world's largest telescope dedicated to infra-red astronomy, based in Hawaii.
The fate of these and nearly 30 other projects will be decided later in the year.
Showing posts with label science. Show all posts
Showing posts with label science. Show all posts
Wednesday, 30 April 2008
Monday, 28 January 2008
Skies dim for British astronomers
British astronomers will lose access to two of the world's finest telescopes in February due to a government funding shortfall, reports the BBC.
The Science and Technology Facilities Council (STFC), which looks after UK astronomy funding, has signalled that formal notice to withdraw from the Gemini organisation - the consortium that runs two of the biggest, most-modern optical-infrared reflecting telescopes in the world - would be issued shortly, as it seeks to plug a large hole in its budget.
The STFC's problems have emerged out of the government's latest spending round, which has left the council short of £80m in the three-year budget plan to 2011.
This is an amount equivalent to just five days worth of money the government is, however, prepared to shower on the audit-failing and wasteful EU.
The result will be that British astronomers will no longer view the Northern Hemisphere sky with the largest class of telescope.
To manage its way out of this crisis, the STFC has announced its intention to close certain programmes and cut research grants. Science societies and union officials have warned the damage to UK physics and astronomy will be incalculable and will lead to hundreds of job losses.
Researchers say they are aghast at the administrators' decision.
Professor Paul Crowther from Sheffield University said: "To withdraw from the state-of-the-art Gemini facilities leaves the UK ground-based astronomy strategy in disarray - some would say deliberately sabotaged."
"This will badly affect the UK astronomical community's ability to address questions such as how galaxies form, or look for planets around other stars, or be able to adequately exploit space observatories such as the Hubble Space Telescope," explained the current chair of the UK telescope allocation committee for Gemini.
"The loss of Gemini North is particularly acute, since the majority of the UK past investment has been focused upon the Northern Hemisphere," he told BBC News.
In future, the only way British astronomers can look at the Northern Hemisphere sky with the largest class of telescope is if they are working on projects with co-researchers whose national funding agencies are sponsors of one of these facilities.
Those MPs who voted to approve the recent 63% increase in our contributions to the EU, despite no end to the EU's annual audit failures, are the ones responsible for this problem.
Doubtless the EU could live without our contributions for just five days, so we can save the £80m required and our international scientific reputation. But those politicians have now made their irresponsible and short-sighted decision to give the money to the EU instead. And we can now only cast our verdict on that decision at the ballot box, come the next general election.
The Science and Technology Facilities Council (STFC), which looks after UK astronomy funding, has signalled that formal notice to withdraw from the Gemini organisation - the consortium that runs two of the biggest, most-modern optical-infrared reflecting telescopes in the world - would be issued shortly, as it seeks to plug a large hole in its budget.
The STFC's problems have emerged out of the government's latest spending round, which has left the council short of £80m in the three-year budget plan to 2011.
This is an amount equivalent to just five days worth of money the government is, however, prepared to shower on the audit-failing and wasteful EU.
The result will be that British astronomers will no longer view the Northern Hemisphere sky with the largest class of telescope.
To manage its way out of this crisis, the STFC has announced its intention to close certain programmes and cut research grants. Science societies and union officials have warned the damage to UK physics and astronomy will be incalculable and will lead to hundreds of job losses.
Researchers say they are aghast at the administrators' decision.
Professor Paul Crowther from Sheffield University said: "To withdraw from the state-of-the-art Gemini facilities leaves the UK ground-based astronomy strategy in disarray - some would say deliberately sabotaged."
"This will badly affect the UK astronomical community's ability to address questions such as how galaxies form, or look for planets around other stars, or be able to adequately exploit space observatories such as the Hubble Space Telescope," explained the current chair of the UK telescope allocation committee for Gemini.
"The loss of Gemini North is particularly acute, since the majority of the UK past investment has been focused upon the Northern Hemisphere," he told BBC News.
In future, the only way British astronomers can look at the Northern Hemisphere sky with the largest class of telescope is if they are working on projects with co-researchers whose national funding agencies are sponsors of one of these facilities.
Those MPs who voted to approve the recent 63% increase in our contributions to the EU, despite no end to the EU's annual audit failures, are the ones responsible for this problem.
Doubtless the EU could live without our contributions for just five days, so we can save the £80m required and our international scientific reputation. But those politicians have now made their irresponsible and short-sighted decision to give the money to the EU instead. And we can now only cast our verdict on that decision at the ballot box, come the next general election.
Sunday, 21 October 2007
'Cash crisis' for science centres
Science education centres around the UK face serious financial threats and some have already closed, reports the BBC.
MPs on the House of Commons science and technology select committee want the government to give centres at risk short-term funding.
Two of the centres which were funded by the Millennium Commission - Doncaster's Earth Centre and Ayrshire's Big Idea - have already closed, its report says.
The loss of such centres is a threat to science education, it says. Ministers say they will respond "in due course".
The report, the Funding of Science and Discovery Centres, says that these centres make a valuable contribution to the public's engagement with science - but there are serious financial problems.
After initial funding, these centres are unable to pay for themselves - and the report says that without a change in their financial support, they will be closed before their value has been properly assessed.
The Eden Project is an example of a successful science centre, say MPs.
The Earth Centre and Big Idea have both closed and another, At-Bristol, has had to close two of its three attractions and has made 45 staff redundant.
The report says the government should not be obliged to fund loss-making centres on a regular basis, but as a short-term measure it should make cash available.
It also recommends that "steps are taken to reduce the tax burden on science and other educational centres".
The report says that the science centre concept has been around for about 20 years - representing a place for people to explore science often in an interactive setting.
The biggest injection of funding came in the form of £450m for 18 centres from the Millennium Commission.
But the report says that in terms of earning revenue, science centres - apart from examples such as the Eden Project in Cornwall - have struggled to raise more than 80% of their running costs.
This leaves them with a recurrent funding problem, says the MPs' report, which proposes they should be given a reduced rate of VAT - and it urges the government to consider supporting science centres in the way it subsidises museums.
A Department for Innovation, Universities and Science spokesman said that the government is "keen to encourage young people and the broader community to get involved with science".
He said they would respond to the report more fully "in due course".
MPs on the House of Commons science and technology select committee want the government to give centres at risk short-term funding.
Two of the centres which were funded by the Millennium Commission - Doncaster's Earth Centre and Ayrshire's Big Idea - have already closed, its report says.
The loss of such centres is a threat to science education, it says. Ministers say they will respond "in due course".
The report, the Funding of Science and Discovery Centres, says that these centres make a valuable contribution to the public's engagement with science - but there are serious financial problems.
After initial funding, these centres are unable to pay for themselves - and the report says that without a change in their financial support, they will be closed before their value has been properly assessed.
The Eden Project is an example of a successful science centre, say MPs.
The Earth Centre and Big Idea have both closed and another, At-Bristol, has had to close two of its three attractions and has made 45 staff redundant.
The report says the government should not be obliged to fund loss-making centres on a regular basis, but as a short-term measure it should make cash available.
It also recommends that "steps are taken to reduce the tax burden on science and other educational centres".
The report says that the science centre concept has been around for about 20 years - representing a place for people to explore science often in an interactive setting.
The biggest injection of funding came in the form of £450m for 18 centres from the Millennium Commission.
But the report says that in terms of earning revenue, science centres - apart from examples such as the Eden Project in Cornwall - have struggled to raise more than 80% of their running costs.
This leaves them with a recurrent funding problem, says the MPs' report, which proposes they should be given a reduced rate of VAT - and it urges the government to consider supporting science centres in the way it subsidises museums.
A Department for Innovation, Universities and Science spokesman said that the government is "keen to encourage young people and the broader community to get involved with science".
He said they would respond to the report more fully "in due course".
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