Dark days ahead? December 16, 2009
Posted by sarah in: astronomy, politics , trackbackThe British astronomy community is bracing itself for bad news due to arrive tomorrow from its funding council, the Science and Technology Facilities Council, or STFC. Since its creation in 2007, STFC appears to have stumbled from one crisis to the next. An announcement will be made by the council tomorrow about deep cuts in the astronomy budget to fill a 70 million pound hole that has resulted from increased contributions to ESA on the one hand, and a debt that needs to be repayed to the government dating back to the merger that created STFC in 2007.
As I’m not based in Britain any more – and I was only a sort-of British astronomer to begin with – I try not to get too sucked in by the doom and gloom across the Channel. The Netherlands is a great place to be an astronomer and I have no reason to worry. But it’s impossible not to be concerned about what is happening right now. Regardless of what cuts are announced tomorrow, the effect the ongoing crisis is having on the morale of British scientists is devastating for progress in British astronomy. It’s hard to be enthusiastic about a new space agency when your job is on the line.
A crisis in British astronomy is not just a crisis in Britain. The country is a major player in astronomy on a worldwide level, and even a small squeeze in British jobs can be felt everywhere. Not just British astronomers will lose job security: all astronomers face a tougher test on the jobs market in years to come.
Here’s a round-up of good reading by people who know more:
Paul Crowther at Sheffield keeps track of the developments to an amazing level of detail. Every pound in the deficit is accounted for here.
STFC’s own webpage about tomorrow’s announcement – ironically entitled “Investing in the Future”.
A great post from To Left of Centre.
Andy Lawrence gives a bit of inside info, with lots of comments from other important people.
A letter by Andy Fabian of Cambridge University, President of the Royal Astronomical Society, to science minister Lord Drayson.
Peter Coles in Cardiff gives his thoughts here.
Rob Simpson, also in Cardiff , says it like it is.
Added 15/12 16/12: A post like this one, from A Pacific View. Cheers Tom.
Added 15/12 16/12: A website called Save Astronomy with a bit of info. Who is behind this?
Tweeters to follow tomorrow: @Paul_Crowther, @telescoper, @defjaf, @ProfBrianCox, @jonmbutterworth, @stpkav, @StephenSerjeant – all senior astronomers and physicists at British universities – and @lorddrayson. At the junior end, there’s @orbitingfrog, @chrislintott, @astronomyblog, and me. Hashtag of the day: #stfc.
I also created an archive for all tweets tagged #stfc, see it here (15/12) 16/12. I found some nifty software that lets me save a twitter archive in easily readable formats, if anyone would like them in a spreadsheet or xml file, drop me an email or a tweet.
[Incidentally, good to see lots of familiar names from my days at UCL on that list.]
Comments»
Thank you, Sarah, for the good article and the collection of links (some of which I know but one or two I didn’t). I’ve mentioned the same links in my own blog as well as your own.
Tom
[...] a PhD student here in Cardiff, is probably expressing the fears of many younger researchers as is Sarah Kendrew who gives a postdoc [...]
[...] This post was mentioned on Twitter by Sarah Kendrew, Dave Clements. Dave Clements said: #stfc Another blog post about the cuts from @sarahkendrew giving an expat postdoc perspective http://tinyurl.com/yeu5e99 [...]
[...] by reactions to and discussions of the funding cuts to physics and astronomy research in the UK announced on 16 December. On the day of this announcement I created a permanent archive for all tweets [...]