open letter<\/a> to Prof Ian Chapman, the chief executive of UKRI, more than 500 researchers write: \u201cThe present combination of uncertainty, delay and re-prioritisation in early career pathways risks the loss of a generation from the UK research and industrial ecosystem.\u201d<\/p>\nDr Simon Williams, a 29-year-old postdoc at Durham University, studies quantum computing applications in theoretical physics and is looking for a second postdoc position. \u201cThe only options I\u2019ve realistically had are overseas,\u201d he said. \u201cAs things stand, it is increasingly likely that I will take up a position in Germany rather than remain in the UK. There are simply far more viable and stable opportunities abroad.\u201d<\/p>\n
Dr Claire Rigouzzo, a 26-year-old researcher at King\u2019s College London, has accepted a post in Europe after finding nothing in the UK. Early career scientists faced one of the harshest job markets in years, she said, but the knock-on effects were broader. Senior academics were worried because they cannot attract the best researchers, she said. \u201cEven students can sense that science is no longer a priority,\u201d she added. \u201cMorale is extremely low across the board.\u201d<\/p>\n
UKRI has nearly \u00a39bn to distribute through research councils this year, covering physical sciences and engineering, biological sciences and medical research. The Science and Technology Facilities Council (STFC) funds physics research as well as major facilities such as the Diamond Light Source in Oxfordshire.<\/p>\n
The STFC needs to make \u00a3162m in savings by 2030 after seeing electricity costs spiral at its national facilities and subscriptions to international projects such as Cern and the European Space Agency rise with foreign exchange rates. The funder also committed to projects it can no longer afford.<\/p>\n
Another King\u2019s researcher, Dr Lucien Heurtier, 37, will come to the end of his contract in September and has started looking for jobs in China. \u201cIt is clear that no UK university will want to open lecturer positions in curiosity-driven research if such lecturers would not be able to attract much national funding,\u201d he said. \u201cMy wife and daughter will have to follow.\u201d<\/p>\n
The Rubin observatory in Chile. Photograph: Javier Torres\/AFP\/Getty Images<\/p>\n
The loss of grants means the UK faces a situation where it has spent hefty sums on overseas projects such as the groundbreaking Rubin Observatory in Chile, which will swing into action this year, but could have no UK astronomers to work on it. \u201cThe timing of these proposed cuts, just as the telescopes start to deliver, could not be worse,\u201d said Prof Catherine Heymans, Scotland\u2019s astronomer royal.<\/p>\n
Prof Mike Lockwood, the president of the Royal Astronomical Society, urged the government to step in to prevent a \u201ccatastrophe\u201d in science. \u201cYou lose a whole generation,\u201d he said. \u201cThe facilities side is overcommitted and it\u2019s young researchers that are taking the brunt of that. As a nation, we can\u2019t afford for that to happen.\u201d<\/p>\n
Speaking to reporters, Chapman defended the moves. \u201cWhen you make choices there will be some things that miss out, but when you don\u2019t make choices, everybody misses out because you choke everybody and nothing then can be internationally competitive because it\u2019s all underfunded,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Hundreds of early career researchers have warned the UK will lose a generation of scientists after the announcement…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":411755,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[3],"tags":[59,57,58,50,56,54,55],"class_list":{"0":"post-411754","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-united-kingdom","8":"tag-gb","9":"tag-great-britain","10":"tag-greatbritain","11":"tag-news","12":"tag-uk","13":"tag-united-kingdom","14":"tag-unitedkingdom"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/411754","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=411754"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/411754\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/411755"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=411754"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=411754"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=411754"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}