News from Council - 26 January 2010

STFC Council met at the Rutherford Appleton Laboratory on 26 January 2010 for its scheduled January meeting. The Chairman, Professor Michael Sterling, provided Council with information on his meetings to seek community input to the Drayson Review of STFC structural issues. In addition to meeting senior officials from the Department for Business, Innovation & Skills, the Chairman has met the Wellcome Trust, former Minister Lord Sainsbury, attended the Astronomy Forum and will have meetings with representatives of the physics communities.

Amongst other business, Council also received an implementation report for the science prioritisation announced in December 2009. The prioritisation includes a “managed withdrawal” from some projects and programmes, and reduction in support for others. STFC is committed to extensive consultation with affected communities to ensure as sensitive a transition as possible. Of necessity, the detailed implementation of some measures requires input from these stakeholder discussions.

Council noted that the discussions with the communities were focussed on the implementation of the prioritisation and not on re-assessment of the priorities. Meetings have been held with Advisory Panels, a Particle Theory town meeting, the Astronomy Forum, the Engineering and Physical Sciences Research Council, and a range of other partners and project leaders.

Key points in the implementation report included:

• Advisory Panels:
  Further advice from the advisory panels on specific implementation issues will be sought in February.
  
  
• Astronomy Grants Panel (AGP):
  the effect of the prioritisation is being folded into the AGP recommendations, which are due to be approved by PPAN on 27/28 January 2010. The mid-term impact on astronomy Post-Doctoral Research Assistant (PDRA) numbers is likely to be an adjustment from 80-90 new PDRAs per year, with a total complement of about 270, to around 60 per year with a total complement of about 180, once all support for projects/facilities ranked lower than the prioritisation cut-off is removed.
  
  
• Gemini:
  Following the UK’s statement at the Gemini Board in November that we were “almost certain” not to wish to continue as a member, STFC formally notified the Board of our intention to withdraw from the partnership by 31 December 2012. This follows the recommendations of the Ground-Based Facilities Review, PPAN and Science Board. STFC has also asked the astronomy community for “imaginative” ways to continue to provide access to northern hemisphere telescopes.
  
  
• Radio Astronomy:
  the prioritisation did not envisage funding for the LOw Frequency ARray (LOFAR) in the UK. However, members of both the LOFAR-UK and SKA collaborations have expressed their interest in exploring options from within the envelope of funding for radio astronomy in the UK to support LOFAR at a minimal level. This approach has been welcomed and is being explored further with the community.
  
  
• E-ELT and SKA R&D:
  The UK European-Extremely Large Telescope and Square Kilometre Array communities have been informed of the reductions in the planning budgets for R&D, and STFC has commenced discussion with PIs with regard to constructing programmes to fit the available funds.
  
  
• Space:
  The Council prioritisation identified four operational space missions for which Post Launch Support (PLS) would need to be withdrawn: Cassini; XMM; Cluster and SOHO. Of these, Cassini and Cluster have PLS funding until 31 March 2010. STFC is therefore looking as a matter of urgency at what bridging funded is required to maintain the Cluster and Cassini teams during discussions with the community and international partners on a managed withdrawal. XMM and SOHO have support for at least a further year of operations. The European Space Agency (ESA) Executive has been informed of the UK position, and plans for withdrawal will likely require the involvement of the ESA advisory structure and Science Programme Committee, as well as input from STFC advisory panels and Oversight Committees on priorities for PLS. A timetable for review of STFC support for the next stages of ESA’s Cosmic Vision was already in place, prior to the outcome of the prioritisation. This will be modified to reflect the revised planning budget.
  
  
• Particle Physics grants:
  STFC is discussing the impact of the prioritisation with the Chairman of the Experimental Grants Panel to decide the management of the reduced funding. STFC has met with Fermilab to discuss future support for the CDF, D0 and MINOS experiments. STFC will continue the reduction in support for these activities at the rate recommended by the grants panel last summer.
  
  
• Particle Astrophysics:
  STFC has clarified that our inability to support the CTA, SNO+ and Dark Matter projects now does not mean the UK would never wish to participate. However, future support would be dependent on increased funding for STFC.
  
  
• Nuclear Physics:
  STFC has clarified that the ALICE experiment at CERN will continue to be supported as an already-issued grant until mid-2011. At the end of this period the proponents could bid for continuation to the grants panel, but the funding envelope available to the grants panel will have been reduced by the corresponding amount. STFC will ask the advisory panel for input on whether some elements of AGATA can (or should) be continued within the overall funding envelope planned for NUSTAR. The UK has informed BMBF, the German funding ministry, that we will not be a shareholder of FAIR, and will be withdrawing from our involvement in PANDA. We will discuss with the partners how we maintain our commitment to the NUSTAR experiment.
  
  
• Accelerator R&D:
  STFC has confirmed to the United States Department of Energy and Fermilab that we will continue to support the MICE project, given its strategic importance - including the partnership with the USA in particular. The new Accelerator Centre at Daresbury is being developed as part of the implementation plan for the programme prioritisation. It is anticipated that all staff and funding of the existing ASTeC department will transition into the new centre during 2010.
  
  
• New Light Source:
  STFC met the NLS project board in January. The Board will continue development of the conceptual design case pending its meeting in March.
  
  
• XFEL:
  The convention for XFEL was signed on 30 November. The UK did not sign, having made it clear that any such decision must await the outcome of the prioritisation. STFC has subsequently told our German partners that we are not able to contribute as planned, but that we would like to explore ways to retain some involvement.
  
  
• Education, training and careers:
  Acting on advice of the Education, Training and Careers Committee, with input from the Chair and Deputy Chair of PPAN, the award of postdoctoral fellowships in 2010 was cancelled. This will allow STFC to meet the target of a 25% reduction in the studentships and fellowships funding line while maintaining close to the originally envisaged number of Advanced Fellowships and limiting the reduction in the number of PhD studentships to 10-15% in 2010. ETCC will consult on whether we should take a different approach in 2011.

Terry O’Connor
Director of Communications