30/07/08 Research Fortnight - View from the top

The road ahead: down-to-earth planning for blue-skies research
Keith Mason

On 3 July, the Science and Technology Facilities Council released the outcome of the first programmatic review since its formation on 1 April last year from the merger of the Particle Physics and Astronomy Research Council and the Council for the Central Laboratory of the Research Councils. Getting there was a harder path than anyone involved had anticipated and when I met with members of our research communities a few days later, it was heartening to see them broadly welcome the programme and keen to talk about STFC's future work, building on the lessons learned from this process [see RF 16/07/08]

Over the coming three years of the spending review period, the STFC will be investing £1.906 billion in exciting, ambitious and world-leading science, including funding research groups in particle physics, astronomy, space science and nuclear physics as well as operating facilities, and ensuring UK access to neutron sources, light sources and lasers. There is a great deal to be excited about in the programme, from the vital increase in Full Economic Costing, to the new science that will be coming in the next few years.

While I am confident that we have a good outcome from the STFC's Programmatic Review 2007-8, some of the council's processes can and should be improved. In response to community feedback, we are introducing new Advisory Panels in the Particle Physics, Astronomy and Nuclear (PPAN) side of our programme - a call for nominations is now underway. These panels will consult and interact with the community to ensure its views are canvassed and that there is effective communication between the community and STFC. They will also draft and maintain roadmaps describing current and future opportunities for their areas and provide input into future programmatic reviews. Discussions are still taking place about the best way to consult with the Physical and Life Science (PALS) communities, as these are more dispersed and may need a different approach.

STFC is also reviewing the process for the programmatic review itself, to make it as transparent, fair, scientifically rigorous yet efficient as possible. For some elements of our community, this was the first time that they had experienced such a process and we will be working with all our communities to make the next review, in two years' time, a smoother operation.

Alongside improving our processes, I am thinking ahead to the next spending review. STFC and its communities need to make a compelling case for additional support for the work that we do. In the current economic climate, we have to be ready to answer tough questions on what we provide UK taxpayers in return for their funding.

I firmly believe that STFC delivers exceptional value for the UK. Some of the work we fund has immediate benefits that can be readily seen and understood: new medicines, new companies, new jobs. We have to trumpet these successes and their origins in publicly funded work.

It is also true that the direct benefit of much scientific research emerges in the longer term. It is vital that we convey clearly just how important this work is to the UK. Fundamental research drives innovation and we should make this case. Even more than that, though, blue-skies research inspires and excites, and creates knowledge and opportunity. It is for these reasons that it is the life-blood of a knowledge economy.

STFC will be talking with its research communities about how best to make these arguments, and to demonstrate that our science programme is something to be proud of - and to show how much the UK stands to gain from further increasing its investment in science.

With funding earmarked from the Large Facilities Capital Fund of the Department for Innnovation, Universities and Skills, we are developing the science and business case for three Gateway Centres at the Daresbury and Harwell campuses. The Hartree Computational Centre, the Imaging Solutions Centre and the Detector Systems Centre will bring together vital expertise and technologies in their areas to become accessible one-stop solution centres for academia and industry.

We have come a long way in the 15 months since the STFC was created, but we have further to go. I want to develop a research council that has the confidence of its communities, but also delivers for the UK on an unprecedented scale in terms of scientific and technical advances, inspiration, commercial benefits and skilled people. This will require some changes for all of us, but I and my executive will be working hard over the coming months to share our vision of the STFC and take the research community on this journey with us.