UK government proposes 30% budget cut to astronomy and physics research: ‘It’s pretty disastrous’

The UK government is set to slash its funding for astronomy, particle and nuclear physics by 30 percent in a move branded as disastrous by industry groups and one likely to affect a generation of researchers.

The cuts were announced in a letter by Michele Dougherty, the UK’s Astronomer Royal and executive chair of the Science and Technology Facilities Council (STFC), which was sent to stakeholders on Jan. 28. STFC is a part of the UK Research and Innovation national science funding agency, which distributes funds to the astronomy and physics communities and runs high-tech facilities including particle accelerators, laser research centers and astronomical observatories.

The cuts have been justified by the need to focus “on a more concentrated set of priorities” and the fact that the STFC’s budget has been squeezed by the rising costs of running its labs. Robert Massey, the deputy executive director at the Royal Astronomical Society, described the cuts as “the worst outcome for the field in decades” and “the deepest percentage cut in at least a generation.” “It’s pretty disastrous,” Massey told Space.com. “You can’t have a cut of that scale and not expect to see a massive impact.”

Massey pointed out that the UK has historically been a global astronomy powerhouse with locally produced research ranking the third in the world in the number of citations in respected peer-reviewed journals. The cuts, he said, will mean that the UK will not be able to harvest the scientific return on its investment into large, international collaborations such as the Square Kilometer Array Telescope Observatory and the European Southern Observatory (ESO). The UK hosts the SKAO headquarters and is among the three largest contributors to the project’s budget. The UK is also one of the main funders of ESO, which operates some of the world’s largest astronomical observatories including the Very Large Telescope and the Extremely Large Telescope currently being built in Chile.

“I assume we’re not about to pull out of SKAO or ESO, but the problem is that we’ll invest into the development of these facilities but then don’t provide the resources to exploit the data,” said Massey. “This looks like a very likely outcome from this latest round of cuts.”

He warned the decision would have a disproportionate impact on the new generation of researchers with PhD and early-career postdoctoral jobs likely to bear the brunt of the cuts.

“This is sending a really, really bad message when you want to encourage people to come into science to meet this ambition for long-term growth,” he said.

The UK Institute of Physics (IOP) issued a similarly scathing statement on behalf of the nuclear and particle physics communities.

“Cuts of this scale are a devastating blow for the foundations of UK physics, which is already battling a critical funding gap in universities, a decades-long shortage in teachers and a widespread skills shortage,” IOP President-elect Professor Paul Howarth CBE said in a statement.

The cuts sting particularly hard as they come while the UK’s overall funding for research and innovation has been increased, and follow a 15% reduction in grants for these scientific disciplines that was enacted last year.

In an open letter issued on Feb.1, Ian Chapman, the chief executive of the UK science and innovation funding agency UKRI, said that the overall level of funding available for universities, researchers and innovators has increased to almost £10 billion in the latest government budget (compared to around £9 billion in the previous period). He, however, added that UKRI had “clear directions from the government” to “focus and do fewer things better.”

“This includes more clearly aligning with national and societal priorities to ensure public money is invested to deliver outcomes for the nation and its people,” Chapman wrote in the letter.

Massey said that the decision gives an impression that “astronomy and space science are being targeted.”

“It’s basically an administrative decision that’s led to some very serious real world consequences,” Massey added.

In November last year, the UK slashed its contribution to the budget of the European Space Agency (ESA), Europe’s response to NASA, which brings together 23 member states to work on complex space projects. For years, the UK has been the fourth biggest contributor to ESA’s budget but has slid to the fifth spot after allocating only €1.706 billion ($2.02 billion) for the next three-year period, down 11.2 percent from the 2022 allocation. At the same time, Spain, which now ranks fourth after Germany, France and Italy, doubled its contribution.

Some sources say that the need to refocus on defense investment in light of the rising tensions with Russia and worsening relations with the United States, a once-key ally, are forcing the UK government to slash budgets. Fast-growing fields such as AI and biotechnologies might appear as a safer bet to fund with the available resources.

“It is obvious cuts are needed across the government to close the gap between what we get in tax versus what we need to spend on defence, welfare etc,” a source familiar with the situation in the sector who didn’t wish to be named told Space.com. “It’s a tough time. The Treasury has asked tough questions of all departments. They will each have to make their cases.”