STFC Council's response to the RAS statement of 14 February 2008

At its meeting on 28 February STFC Council discussed the RAS Statement of 14 February 2008.

The Council acknowledges the concerns and strong feelings evoked by the outcome of the CSR07 settlement. Difficult decisions have and will be necessary to live within our budget. Council and its executive shares and regrets the impact this will cause to the plans and aspirations of some researchers.

The Council recognises that it must improve its communications and is setting in place plans to do so. One key element of these plans will be to engage more actively with stakeholders including the RAS. We aim to give stakeholders more information about the STFC’s plans and its decisions, and to argue collectively the case for more investment in our science. The Council looks forward to such engagement and more constructive dialogue with all its stakeholders.

The delivery of world-class science is at heart of the Council’s mission. As we set out in our Delivery Plan, STFC will invest more than £1.5b over the next three years to enable UK researchers to have access to and exploit some of the best facilities in the world. Council acknowledges that a major part of its mission is specifically to carry out world-class science in astronomy, particle physics and nuclear physics.

The Council has and will continue to argue that the science we support is crucial for the advancement of knowledge and vital for our economy and society.

Part of this case is the huge added value from investment in physics, which underpins developments (new technologies, skilled people) in many areas of science as well as driving innovation in the economy. We will continue to emphasise that some of our programme, and, in particular, astronomy and space science, attract young people into science and that there has been a substantial growth in astronomy departments in the last few years.

STFC looks forward to the Wakeham review of physics and fully expects a strong endorsement of STFC’s physics areas as crucial to the health of the UK economy.

The Council believes its peer-review structure has done an excellent job in re-prioritising the Council’s programme in difficult circumstances. This re-prioritisation is not yet complete and in the next few days the Council will announce details of a consultation on the outcome of its programmatic review. The results of the consultation will be considered before decisions are made. The Council will as intended also engage with the community and representative groups including the RAS in shaping its longer-term science and technology strategy. The establishment of a more detailed advisory system is under consideration.