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STFC

STFC. John Womersley Chief Executive. December 2011. What I want to do differently. Advocacy for our science programme Accessibility and transparency Stakeholder relationships Consultation and involvement of the community.

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  1. STFC John Womersley Chief Executive December 2011

  2. What I want to do differently • Advocacy for our science programme • Accessibility and transparency • Stakeholder relationships • Consultation and involvement of the community • I want STFC to be an organisation that is admired, and one that staff and stakeholders are proud to be associated with

  3. What’s not going to change • Our Vision, Strategy and Delivery Plan • Our Funding allocations • The commitments we’ve made to government around impact, Campuses, etc.

  4. Directorates Staff consultation underway New structure in place April 1

  5. The next 3-4 years • We have a reasonably well-defined (and sustainable) science program and priorities for 2011-15 • We should look for imaginative and affordable ways to broaden it where we can • Additional capital opportunities • We need to deliver on our commitments to government from CSR 2010 • Our strategy: Research, Innovation and Skills • Delivery Plan and Scorecard • Restructuring and Reorganisation • Very high level of government support for science • Based on pragmatism, what it can do for the economy, not on a love of learning

  6. BIS Innovation and Research Strategy Published last week - key measures give some idea what is expected of us • Monitoring the UK’s performance in terms of research outputs, and maintaining our reputation for excellence • Delivering Government investment commitments in High-Performance Computing and e-infrastructure, TICs, graphene etc. • Monitoring the proportion of UK research outputs that have an international co-author, the quality of these collaborations, and the volume of R&D investment leveraged from abroad • Increasing the successful engagement of UK universities and business with EU funding programmes • Increasing the number of high quality inward investment projects from overseas • Increasing the availability of public data

  7. Preparing for the 2014 CSR (1) • 2014 will be more political than 2010 – immediately before an election • Need to start collecting the evidence base now • “Already used” arguments lose their force • Need both case studies and anecdotes and broad surveys and data collection • Programmatic review in 2013

  8. Why does government support science? £ Government Science Technological innovation, skills Understanding of the Universe

  9. Preparing for the 2014 CSR (2) • In 2010 we did a much better job explaining the impact of what we do, but we did not promise radical new ways of working (either for the research council or the community) • Not clear to me that this approach will be good enough in 2014 • UK economy may still be in/near recession • Has the science community really come to terms with the seriousness of the economic crisis? • Community buy-in to “impact agenda” is still limited – but we need your ideas and input

  10. Future initiatives • STFC’s mission means that we need to look 15-20 years into the future • Challenging to do this at a time when many find it hard to look more than 3-5 years ahead – but essential • Timescale for any significant funding is almost certain to be post-2015 • Future calls on the Large Facilities Capital Fund • Bids in the next CSR • But not too soon to start thinking • R&D • Psychological/political preparation • Including the other Research Councils

  11. Future initiatives • In describing future science opportunities in STFC’s areas, I can talk about • High Performance Computing • Future UK Free Electron Light Source • ISIS MW upgrades • Vulcan 10PW Laser and Laser Fusion • Square Kilometre Array • European ELT • ESA Space Science programme … but what for particle physics?

  12. Particle Physics in 2011/12 The best of times • Significant results from the Large Hadron Collider soon • Confirm or refute a picture of how the universe works at the TeV scale that has held for almost 30 years

  13. Particle Physics in 2011/12 The best of times • Dark matter and dark energy – the universe is stranger than we ever thought • Neutrino results from OPERA (faster than light?) have generated significant interest • £15M STFC investment in particle physics/astronomy HPC • Applications for physics courses at university in 2010/11 up by more than 17%

  14. UK research quality remains extremely high Astronomy Year No of pubs (world ranking) Citation impact (world ranking) 2008 2075 (2nd) 10.06 (2nd) 2009 2256 (2nd) 11.37 (1st) 2010 2411 (2nd) 11.79 (1st) Particle physics Year No of pubs (world ranking) Citation impact (world ranking) 2008 1127 (4th) 8.35 (1st) 2009 1047 (3rd) 8.99 (1st) 2010 1030 (4th) 9.23 (1st) Nuclear physics Year No of pubs (world ranking) Citation impact (world ranking) 2008 372 (7th) 6.47 (2nd) 2009 347 (7th) 6.99 (2nd) 2010 347 (7th) 6.74 (2nd)

  15. Particle Physics in 2011/12 Or the worst of times? • Particle Physics in the US is in a state of malaise (if not crisis) • CERN subscription is about at its upper limit (at least as far as the UK is concerned) • What is the vision and strategy for the future global particle physics programme? • Solid base of LHC + upgrades at CERN: to 2030 (DG) – plus… • Neutrino mass/mixing • Astroparticle physics • }where?

  16. Particle Physics in 2011/12 • Current success of LHC and high level of interest in particle physics is great • But mustn’t blind us to the very real challenge in defining the future global particle physics programme • Upcoming European Strategy exercise is extremely important • Community input please!

  17. Discussion

  18. Discussion

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