The Science and Technology Facilities Council

Janet Seed

CLAS/JLAB meeting March 2011

Outline

1. Who we are and what we do2. The 2010 Comprehensive Spending Review3. Our programme priorities 2011-154. Nuclear physics in STFC

1. Who we are and what we do.

HM Government &

Joint Astronomy Centre Hawaii

Isaac Newton Group of TelescopesLa Palma

STFC Facilities

+ grants to UK universities and research at CERN, ESO, ESRF and ILL

STFC Strategy

• STFC’s corporate strategy brings together three strategic goals:• World Class Research• World Class Innovation• World Class Skills

• Supported by six strategic themes:• Sustaining Research Excellence and Leadership• Solutions for global challenges• Inspiring and Involving• Effective Knowledge Exchange• Strengthening Strategic Partnerships• Building International Influence

2. Comprehensive Spending Review 2010

Allocation

… this obviously needs some interpretation

Spending review outcome

• Overall the settlement is a good one for STFC, and an extremely good one compared to what we were expecting earlier in the year.

• The outcome partitions our programme into three areas: – international subscriptions– UK large facilities– the “core” programme.

International Subscriptions

• International subscriptions are fully funded at the levels which have been agreed with our international partners.

• A reduction of ESRF exploitation from 14% to 10% is included.

• Foreign currency risk will be minimised by buying Swiss Francs and Euros in advance.

UK Large Facilities

ISIS, Diamond and Central Laser Facility operations are supported at the levels agreed with the other Research Councils.

This includes full operation of Diamond, operation of ISIS based on 120 days per year, and operation of the CLF with the high power laser programme as the priority.

Capital for facility operations and development is included.

The Core Programme

The core programme includes the astronomy, particle physics and nuclear physics research funding

Supported at a sufficient level to maintain the prioritised science programme announced in 2009. No additional reductions in grants or in the programme are expected. But very limited scope for anything new…..

Studentship numbers will be maintained, with the addition of an enhanced studentship scheme (“STEP”)

The advanced fellowships programme is relaunched with the possibility for awardees to bid for (modest) research funding

The Core Programme

New and simplified grants system is being introduced. We have not set any targets for “research concentration”

- i.e. reducing the number of research groups supported Capital for the core programme is sharply reduced, which

will impact on grants and on capital-intensive areas like high-power lasers and accelerator R&D

Innovation and skills• Expanded Futures programme for global challenges• Public engagement activities to inspire and enthuse young people

& improve public understanding/support

• New funding for early stage applications of research• Further development of Campuses in partnership with Goodman

at Harwell and Langtree at Daresbury

Next Steps

• We are translating the statements and commitments in the Delivery Plan into an Operations Plan for 2011-12

• Is being informed by discussions with science communities, Science Board

• Aim to have in place by start of financial year (April 1)

3. STFC’s Programme Priorities 2011-2015

A sustainable, affordable programme

• During 2009 we re-prioritised our entire programme in astronomy, particle physics and nuclear physics.

• Started with community consultation• Based on advice from PPAN, PALS and Science Board, we

constructed a programme with a 10 year planning horizon assuming flat cash budgets

• Required tough decisions and some unpalatable choices, but ensures our programme is on a firm footing

• This led to the withdrawal from PANDA and AGATA (now a workpackage of Nustar).

John Womersley

Nuclear Physics in STFC

The community, some statistics…

The UK Community

~60 academics (tenured)

~53 Post Doctoral Research Assistants (PDRAs) (fixed term)

~110 PhD students

~30 Technicians/engineers

No major facilities in the UK for NP research

STFC funding ~ £5- 6M p.a – increasing over the next 4 years.

The UK Community - Topics

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1. Quantum Chromodynamics x x x

2. Phases of nuclear matter x

3. Nuclear Structure x x x x x x x x x x

4. Nuclei in the universe x x x x x x x x x

5. Fundamental interactions x x x

6. Accelerator R&D x x x

7. Applications of nuclear science

x x x x x

Boundaries

Main boundary is applications (funded by EPSRC) ALICE at CERN is classified as NP Neutrino physics (e.g. 0νββ) normally considered

as APP or PP Low energy QCD = NP; High energy QCD = PP Laser plasma physics sits on the boundary

between atomic (EPSRC) and nuclear (STFC)

International Collaborations

European

Multilateral collaborations in: ALICE, ISOLDE, PANDA, NUSTAR, AGATA, EXOGAM, HERMES, ECT* Trento…

Participating in EU projects: – FP6: EURONS-I3, I3-HP, FAIR-DS, EURISOL-DS– FP7: Hadron Physics2

The UK community relies heavily on access to research infrastructures at international facilities via PAC-approved beam-time

Non-European MoU with Australian National University (ANU) providing beam-

time for UK researchers

Nuclear Physics

A new generation of facilities offering beams of highly unstable ions promises breakthroughs in understanding the behaviour and origin of hadrons and nuclei

Our highest priority in nuclear physics is to participate in the NuSTAR experiment at the Facility for Antiproton and Ion Research, the new European laboratory being constructed at GSI in Darmstadt

Hadron Physics

Glasgow and Edinburgh Universities plus possibly West of Scotland with main programmes at JLab, MAMI and PANDA at FAIR. Support for exploitation of operating experiments currently under review.

JLab programme – current CLAS and Hall A experiments. Some EU FP7 funding for Hall A upgrade projects.

Collaboration with INFN and CNRS on the CLAS12 central detector (neutron detector), RICH detector and CLAS12 forward tagger in Hall B, and on SuperBigBite instrumentation in Hall A.

Future bid likely to STFC.

Conclusions

• Funding is clearly constrained in the UK for the next four years

• But the importance of science is growing – scientific and technical innovation is increasingly key to our future prosperity, security and wellbeing

• We must find ways to maintain our scientific position within flat funding levels while protecting our long term vision and prospects

• We need scientifically excellent projects that are imaginative, affordable, and relevant

DiscussionJanet.Seed@stfc.ac.uk