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15/05/2012
Scientists Protest Over 'Death Of British Science"
Downing Street will take delivery today of a coffin sent by scientists to protest over "the death of British science".
The protestors, a new group called Science for the Future, claim that priority is being given to science that can be quickly taken up by industry at the expense of basic research.
They are also objecting to the way that the Engineering and Physical Sciences Research Council (EPSRC) - which funds their research - is run.
The protest group is led by a prominent group of chemists, mathematicians and physicists, including a number of Nobel prize winners, but the EPSRC have said the protestors are unrepresentative.
Many in the group are concerned about the outcome of a strategic review by the EPSRC, which reduced the priority of some areas of science it funds.
The researchers also believe that there was insufficient scientific input into this review and are complaining about other decisions made by the research council.
According to one of the protest organisers, Prof Anthony Barrett of Imperial College London, priority is being given to fields of research that "civil servants in Swindon (where the EPSRC is based) believe will deliver good economic outcomes".
"In many areas of research there isn't an obvious payback and it's very difficult to demonstrate its potential benefits as we are now required to do," he told BBC News.
"What did the inventor of lasers think their benefits would be?"
The EPSRC denied the allegation. Its chief executive, Professor David Delpy, said that the balance between pure and applied research had remained unchanged following the review.
But some areas had to be cut, he said, because of the real terms 14% cut in overall science funding announced by the Chancellor in his Autumn Statement in 2010.
"It's impossible to fund everything," he said.
(H/GK)
The protestors, a new group called Science for the Future, claim that priority is being given to science that can be quickly taken up by industry at the expense of basic research.
They are also objecting to the way that the Engineering and Physical Sciences Research Council (EPSRC) - which funds their research - is run.
The protest group is led by a prominent group of chemists, mathematicians and physicists, including a number of Nobel prize winners, but the EPSRC have said the protestors are unrepresentative.
Many in the group are concerned about the outcome of a strategic review by the EPSRC, which reduced the priority of some areas of science it funds.
The researchers also believe that there was insufficient scientific input into this review and are complaining about other decisions made by the research council.
According to one of the protest organisers, Prof Anthony Barrett of Imperial College London, priority is being given to fields of research that "civil servants in Swindon (where the EPSRC is based) believe will deliver good economic outcomes".
"In many areas of research there isn't an obvious payback and it's very difficult to demonstrate its potential benefits as we are now required to do," he told BBC News.
"What did the inventor of lasers think their benefits would be?"
The EPSRC denied the allegation. Its chief executive, Professor David Delpy, said that the balance between pure and applied research had remained unchanged following the review.
But some areas had to be cut, he said, because of the real terms 14% cut in overall science funding announced by the Chancellor in his Autumn Statement in 2010.
"It's impossible to fund everything," he said.
(H/GK)
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