The Royal Astronomical Society welcomes the long-term commitment to projects like the European Southern Observatory (ESO). UK involvement in this project, based in Chile, gives British scientists continued access to some of the best astronomical facilities in the world. The Society also strongly endorses the continued investment in many European Space Agency (ESA) programs.

Looking to the future, the RAS recognizes and welcomes the support for the forthcoming European Extremely Large Telescope (E-ELT) and the Square Kilometer Array (SKA) radio observatory as well as last week's decision to establish a free standing agency to lead UK involvement in space.

However, the announcement from STFC contains a swathe of cuts to astronomy that the RAS believes will have a severe impact on the capacity of the UK to deliver a world-class research program. For example, by 2012 facilities including the UK Infrared Telescope (UKIRT), the Isaac Newton Group of telescopes on La Palma, the James Clerk Maxwell Telescope (JCMT) and the Gemini observatory will have lost all UK support.

The result of this is the loss of all UK funding for ground-based optical observatories in the northern hemisphere, which will leave British scientists without direct access to a large part of the sky.

In space science, UK funding for post-launch support for highly successful and continuing missions like Cassini, Cluster, Venus Express and XMM-Newton will go.

Alongside this loss of facilities is a decline of around 10% in the grants available to research groups and a 25% cut in postgraduate studentships and in the positions available to newly-qualified PhD scientists. The best of these are now much more likely to seek employment in the US and Europe, where governments have chosen to increase investment in science.

Professor Andy Fabian, President of the Royal Astronomical Society, believes that the cuts will have a grave impact on astronomy research in the UK. He commented, "With these cuts UK based researchers will struggle to retain their leading position in astronomy and space science.

"Astronomers in the UK are highly productive and deliver this excellence for a relatively low investment compared with their counterparts elsewhere. Research in astronomy is not an area where large 'efficiency savings' can be made without a detrimental impact on the quality of that work.

"Given the difficult economic times we live in, we recognize that public sector budgets are all under pressure. But these cuts are a result of the structural and financial problems that have beset STFC since its creation in 2007, rather than being a consequence of the current recession. These problems have led to an ongoing funding gap that now has to be plugged by cuts in the research base, particularly in the budgets for astronomy and particle physics.

"The RAS acknowledges the efforts made by the Department for Business Innovation and Skills (BIS) and Research Councils UK (RCUK) to provide the increased resources needed for subscriptions for international projects as a result of changing exchange rates. We also welcome today's commitment by the Science Minister, Lord Drayson, to examine the tensioning that arises from funding international science projects, large scientific facilities and UK grants within a single research council, and the negative impact this has on the funds available for facilities and researchers.

"Despite this, we are now seriously concerned at the effect the loss of so many smaller projects will have on the health and morale of physics groups in British universities. The Government has rightly recognized the strategic importance of science for a healthy and more diverse economy. Blue-skies research in subjects like astronomy is an essential component of that scientific base and cutting it now will make it harder for the UK to recover its international position once the economy recovers.

"We call on the Department for Business Innovation and Skills to take the opportunity to back blue-skies research, including astronomy, in the same way that it has increased its support for the life sciences. UK scientists are world leaders in this area and in recent years have attracted the brightest talent from across the globe to share our success. We urge the Government to plan for the long term and recognize that realizing our shared goals depends at least in part on a sustained investment in a diverse science portfolio.

"The savings from cutting astronomy research are, in the scale of public expenditure, trivial. By contrast, the potential damage to one of the UK's leading activities could be huge."

earlier related report
UK Science Program Prioritization 2010-2015
London, UK (SPX) Dec 18 - The Science and Technology Facilities Council today announced a five-year Pounds 2.4 billion investment strategy in world-leading multi-disciplinary science and technology, designed to deliver maximum scientific, societal, international and economic benefit for the United Kingdom in the current tougher financial environment.

"The Council of STFC has approved an affordable, robust and sustainable program. This has involved tough choices affecting the entire program including a managed withdrawal from some areas," STFC chairman, Professor Michael Sterling, FREng, said.

"This is a major reorganization of our program to focus on the top priority items making use of the international subscriptions which, while costly, allow UK scientists critically important access to the world class facilities provided by these international consortia. We have also planned on the basis of the current value of the pound."

Professor Sterling said the strategic consolidation and redirection of the science program would ensure continued major benefits for the UK.

"Taxpayers can be confident that their significant investment in research will deliver the highest quality, and most inspiring and beneficial, science and technology into the future," he said.

Professor Sterling acknowledged the hard work over many months by the members of Science Board, its science committees and panels, and STFC staff, to ensure Council received the best possible scientific advice.

"Council approved this program based on the recommendations from Science Board and its advisory bodies, which comprise leading academics from across the disciplines supported by STFC. We also welcomed the advice given to Science Board from other bodies including the Economic Impact Advisory Board," Professor Sterling said.

The five-year program includes:

* A budget of Pounds 461 million near-cash (plus Pounds 73m additional capital grants) in 2010-11, which will allow STFC to make the transition to the new program from 2011-12 onward. This budget assumes international compensation and the additional Pounds 14 million referred to below.

* From 2010-11, ongoing support for our international subscriptions, a 10% reduction in support for future exploitation grants and a managed cessation of lower priority areas, 25% reduction in the number of new studentships and Fellowships mirroring the overall reduction in the program since the 2007 baseline, and a rationalization of our projects based on prioritization and affordability.

* Research Councils UK has agreed that the other Research Councils will make up to Pounds 14m available to STFC from within the Science and Research budget. This exceptional action, in financial year 2010-11 only, will assist STFC to move to a sustainable new strategy in line with the level of resource already provided to STFC by Government in CSR07. In particular it will remove the risk that STFC's existing research grants to universities, for scientific exploitation activities, would need to be terminated early.

* Pounds 690 million over five years for support for particle physics in the UK, focusing on work at the European particle physics laboratory CERN in Geneva where the Large Hadron Collider is expected to start routine science operations in January 2010, other experiments including into properties of neutrinos, and grants to university groups in the UK to exploit this investment.

* Pounds 639 million over five years for support for space science in the UK through membership of the European Space Agency (ESA) including the Cosmic Vision program and the Aurora program of planetary exploration expected to deliver a robotic mission to Mars within 10 years, other bilateral missions, and grants to university groups in the UK to exploit this investment. We will seek to achieve an overall lower level of support, including post launch support, for lower priority missions.

* Pounds 267 million over five years for support for ground-based astronomy in the UK, focusing on access to the world-leading telescopes ALMA, VLT and VISTA in Chile through membership of the European Southern Observatory (ESO) organization, ongoing research and development support for the proposed Square Kilometre Array (SKA) and European Extremely Large Telescope (E-ELT), operation of SCUBA-2 on the JCMT until 2012, previously agreed support for e-MERLIN as part of our strategy for the SKA, and grants to university groups in the UK to exploit this investment.

* Pounds 258 million over five years for access to light sources for the medical, biological, chemistry, environmental, materials and other sciences and engineering through the provision and upgrades of the Diamond Light Source in Oxfordshire and the European Synchrotron Radiation Facility (ESRF) in Grenoble.

* Pounds 236 million over five years for access to neutron sources for the medical, biological, chemistry, environmental, materials and other sciences and engineering through the provision and upgrades of the ISIS neutron-muon facility in Oxfordshire and the Institute Laue-Langevin in Grenoble, as part of a wider European strategy for the future provision of neutrons.

* Pounds 30 million over five years for support for nuclear physics, focused on the NUSTAR project, and grants to university groups in the UK to exploit this investment.

* Pounds 27 million over five years for support for high powered laser research. In addition we will invest substantial capital in the Vulcan 10 PetaWatt laser upgrade.

* A refocused accelerator activity at Daresbury to take forward pioneering work on the application of accelerators to physics, medical, bio-medical, energy, engineering and other life sciences in the UK, building on the existing investment in the Accelerator Science and Technology Centre (ASTeC) and Cockcroft Institute at Daresbury, and previously agreed support for the John Adams Institute at Oxford.

* Development of the National Science and Innovation Campuses at Harwell in Oxfordshire, and Daresbury in Cheshire, confirming the two Campuses as centers for new collaborative engagement between researchers, academics and industry across the UK and Europe leading to new research outcomes, new investment, and greater economic return.

* Provision of an extensive range of support and enabling technologies for the entire research base across the UK and Europe, including the Microelectronics Support Centre at Harwell delivering training for engineers across Europe, the e-Science Centre supporting data transfer and analysis across the entire UK academic network, and computational science and engineering support for quantum chemistry, molecular simulation, solid-state physics, materials simulation, engineering and environmental simulations.

* Ongoing support for public outreach and science communication, through continuance of our award schemes and Fellowships, and public engagement and communications, helping to ensure new generations of children are enthused and inspired by science, and encouraged to continue study in science, technology, engineering and mathematics (STEM) subjects.

As noted above the program includes the managed withdrawal from a number of projects and programs including the Gemini telescopes, the NLS, and UKIRT. (See appendix A.)

Chief Executive Officer, Professor Keith Mason, said discussions would be held in coming months with national and international partners, including universities, departments and project teams, on implementation of the investment strategy. This will include discussions with EPSRC and the University funding councils on the impact of these measures on physics departments in universities.

"We will ensure a managed withdrawal from those activities that we will no longer support, taking into account the fact that the academic and research community of scientists is a national resource. We recognize that 'economic and societal impact' is a result of scientific achievement, and that scientific achievement is a result of the underlying academic and research community without whose ideas and drive no innovation would emerge," Professor Mason said.

"The program adopted by Council is extensive and will require both external and internal re-alignment and change. The managed withdrawal from identified projects will allow members of our scientific communities to redirect their efforts, or where possible to seek other sources of funding for their projects.

"We have already initiated this process with our staff, universities; partner Research Councils, the Institute of Physics and Royal Astronomical Society, project leaders, international partners and others."

Professor Mason said the detailed implementation of some measures would, of necessity, await input from these stakeholder discussions. He said STFC was committed to regular assessment of projects and programs to ensure scientific objectives were being met and value-for-money delivered.

"Our focus on ensuring the highest possible standards of scientific excellence, as well as delivery of maximum benefit for the taxpayer, underpinned the now-concluded program prioritization and will continue to be a core principle into the future," Professor Mason said.

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