{"id":669346,"date":"2026-07-02T07:04:09","date_gmt":"2026-07-02T07:04:09","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/669346\/"},"modified":"2026-07-02T07:04:09","modified_gmt":"2026-07-02T07:04:09","slug":"knockin-radio-telescope-may-shut-amid-funding-cuts-scientists-fear","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/669346\/","title":{"rendered":"Knockin radio telescope may shut amid funding cuts, scientists fear"},"content":{"rendered":"<p class=\"ssrcss-1q0x1qg-Paragraph e1jhz7w10\">A radio telescope in Shropshire with a 25m (82ft) diameter dish, could be at risk of closing because of proposed cuts in national science funding.<\/p>\n<p class=\"ssrcss-1q0x1qg-Paragraph e1jhz7w10\">The site in Knockin, near Oswestry, is part of e-MERLIN (Enhanced Multi-Element Radio Linked Interferometer Network), a globally significant group of seven sites across the UK.<\/p>\n<p class=\"ssrcss-1q0x1qg-Paragraph e1jhz7w10\">However, the <a href=\"https:\/\/www.bbc.co.uk\/news\/articles\/c8e50x1r237o\" class=\"ssrcss-1e0jzsh-InlineLink e1kn3p7n0\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">Science and Technology Facilities Council (STFC) is expected to reduce funding<\/a> across particle physics, astronomy and physics.<\/p>\n<p class=\"ssrcss-1q0x1qg-Paragraph e1jhz7w10\">The organisation has been approached for comment on the proposals, which have prompted North Shropshire MP Helen Morgan to meet groups who are concerned about potential impact on them.<\/p>\n<p class=\"ssrcss-1q0x1qg-Paragraph e1jhz7w10\">Liberal Democrat Morgan has also met with world-leading physicist Prof Brian Cox, who warned that the cuts could be as high \u00a3162m, roughly 30% of particle physics, astronomy and nuclear physics research.<\/p>\n<p class=\"ssrcss-1q0x1qg-Paragraph e1jhz7w10\">&#8220;There&#8217;s a real concern that the researchers that use those radio telescopes will be the people that get the chop,&#8221; Morgan said.<\/p>\n<p class=\"ssrcss-1q0x1qg-Paragraph e1jhz7w10\">&#8220;That equipment will fall out of use, and we&#8217;ll lose all that talent and all that kind of world-leading research from Britain.&#8221;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"A radio telescope in Shropshire with a 25m (82ft) diameter dish, could be at risk of closing because&hellip;\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":669347,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[23],"tags":[90,416,56,54,55],"class_list":["post-669346","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-space","tag-science","tag-space","tag-uk","tag-united-kingdom","tag-unitedkingdom"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/669346","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=669346"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/669346\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/669347"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=669346"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=669346"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=669346"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}