27th July 2026
Professor Michele Dougherty Executive Chair, Science and Technology Facilities Council
Professor Sir Ian Chapman Chief Executive, UK Research and Innovation
Re: Early-Career Researchers’ Response to STFC Prioritisation Outcomes for the Multidisciplinary Facilities User Communities
Dear Professor Dougherty and Professor Sir Ian Chapman,
The scientific community has already expressed deep concern over the proposed cuts to the operations of the Multidisciplinary Facilities (MDFs) such as ISIS, Diamond, and the Central Laser Facility; however, the specific impact on early-career researchers (ECRs) that rely on these facilities has not been discussed. For many of us, access to these facilities has been central to completing our PhDs, publishing our first papers, building collaborations, and securing our next positions. In this letter, signed by and on behalf of members of the ECR community, we share our concerns that these cuts will harm the career development of talented ECRs, force UK researchers to look abroad for MDF access and opportunities, and weaken the pipeline of UK talent in crucial areas including both curiosity- and application-driven research.
MDFs directly support the growth and development of ECRs in ways that cannot be replicated in other settings. This is evident not only from the PhD studentships they fund, but also in the training and mentoring opportunities they provide. These include hands-on training at user experiments, networking opportunities created at MDF-organised user meetings, and MDF-supported workshops and training schools. For many, these activities mark the beginning of long-term working relationships between ECRs and the facility scientists who develop, operate and continually advance these world-leading experimental techniques. They also foster collaborations among ECRs, creating new, strong, and diverse research networks across disciplines. Critically, all of these opportunities equip ECRs to become the highly technical workforce that is required for UK advanced industries. The current proposed cuts to facility operations will directly obstruct knowledge and skills transfer for ECRs, with particular impact on new user communities and those at the start of their research careers, leading to a loss of talent at the very beginning of the career pipeline.
Unlike established investigators, ECRs typically work on fixed, short-term contracts with little job security, and thus rely on the timely access to MDFs for thesis and publication completion to enable future employment. Reduced operation will inevitably lead to fewer experimental opportunities and increased competition for access to the MDFs, slowing the pace of scientific discovery and delaying publications of high impact research beyond the end of an ECR’s contract, thereby reducing the chance of securing subsequent positions. In addition, when compared to established principal investigators, ECRs may also be less competitive for oversubscribed experimental opportunities and funding. This again reduces ECR opportunities, not only to collect the high-quality data required to deliver world-class science, but also to develop the technical skills and scientific experience required to progress towards independent careers.
The UK has already invested substantially in training ECRs. Reducing their ability to access the facilities on which their research depends risks losing out on the return on that investment just as they begin to establish independent careers. With reduced access to the MDFs, accessing competitive grant funding, both within the UK and abroad, will be more challenging, leaving UK researchers disadvantaged compared to our international peers. Further, with uncertainty over the existence of certain techniques and programmes, such as the muon instruments at ISIS and the Lasers for Science at the Central Laser Facility, it seems likely that many promising projects will be deprioritised by other funding agencies, leaving talented ECRs unable to continue their research careers and unable to transition to other areas of research. Once again, the inevitable impact of these cuts will be a loss of UK scientists in both academic and industrial settings in strategically important areas.
We urge you to reconsider the scale of the cuts to the MDFs and embed consultation with ECRs in any future cost-saving procedures. Where reprioritisation must occur, we ask for the explicit implementation of safeguards to protect ECRs from becoming the unintended casualty of reduced MDF operations. Protecting the UK’s reputation as a science superpower requires not only world-class infrastructure, but the retention of the people equipped to run it.
Yours sincerely,
Thomas Hicken, Postdoctoral Fellow (PSI)
Lizzie Evans, PhD Student (University of Birmingham)
Andrew McCluskey, Senior Lecturer (University of Bristol)
Catriona Crawford, Postdoctoral Research Associate (University of Warwick)
Thomas Brogan, PhD Student (University of Birmingham)
Caitlin Brooker-Davis, PhD Student (University of Birmingham)
Struan Simpson, Research Fellow (University of Warwick)
Ewan Thomas, DPhil Student (Oxford University)
Nik Reeves-McLaren, Senior Lecturer, Faculty of Engineering PGR Lead (University of Sheffield)
Ignacio Martin-Fabiani, Professor of Soft Matter Science and Engineering (Loughborough University)
Maja Dunstan, Postdoctoral Research Associate (The University of Edinburgh)
Daniel Scott, Lecturer in Inorganic Chemistry (University of Bath)
Anna Peacock, Professor in Bioinorganic Chemistry (University of Birmingham)
Josh Bailey, Vice-Chancellor’s Illuminate Fellow (Queen’s University Belfast)
Quinn Gibson, Lecturer (University of Aberdeen)
Iain Malone, Postdoctoral Researcher (École Polytechnique Fédérale de Lausanne)
Matthew Littlehales, Postdoctoral Researcher (Technical University of Munich)
Theo Breeze, PhD Student (Durham University)
Edmond Chan, Instrument Scientist (Institut Laue-Langevin)
Emily Charlotte McFarlane, PhD Student (Max Planck Institute of Microstructure Physics)
Putthachat Sinted, PhD Candidate (University of Warwick)
Zoe Wright, PhD Researcher (University of Oxford)
Peter Soar, Senor Lecturer (University of Greenwich)
Zixuan Wu, PhD Student (University of Oxford)
Thomas Sheerin, Postdoctoral Researcher (University of St Andrews)
Sam Thompson, Postdoctoral Fellow (Aarhus Universitet)
Altin Sula, Principal Scientist (Syngenta)
Catherine Pappas, Professor (Delft University of Technology)
Nicola Kelly, Research Fellow (University of Cambridge)
Chao Zhao, Postdoctoral Research Fellow / MRSC (University of Rome Tor Vergata , former UK researcher)
Petr Král, Postdoctoral Fellow (Paul Scherrer Institute)
Ross Anderson, PhD Student (Heriot-Watt University)
Oliver Thomas, Diamond User Committee ECR Representative (Physical Sciences) (Oxford University)
Harrison Laurent, Research Fellow (Former ISIS Development Studentship PhD) (University of Leeds)
Benjamin Huddart, Postdoctoral Research Assistant (University of Oxford)
Tina Arh, Postdoctoral Fellow (Paul Scherrer Institute)
Jintao Shuai, Research Fellow (University of Leeds)
Conor Moroney, PhD Student (University College Dublin)
Ben Blain, Graduate Researcher (University of Kent)
Patricio Montecinos Munoz, Assistant Professor, Lecturer (Universidade de Sao Paulo, Brazil)
Daire Mallon, PhD Student (University of Oxford)
Kerri McKeever, PhD Student (Queen’s University Belfast)
Florian Courteville, PhD (KTH Royal Institute of Technology)
Sachin Gupta, PhD Student (University of Leeds)
Matthew Brown, PhD Student (Cardiff University)
Jing Ming, Postdoc (UCL)
Miriam Piccinini, PhD (KTH, Royal Institute of Technology, Sweden)
Zurab Guguchia, Group Leader (Paul Scherrer Institute)
Harry Brain, PhD Researcher (University of Warwick)
Issa Briki, Postdoc (PSI)
Syamaidzar Syamaidzar, PhD Student (University of Warwick)
Suraj Ghai, 1st Year PhD Researcher (Queen’s University Belfast)
Nathan Bentley, PhD Student (Durham University)
Leon Ruf, PostDoc (PSI)
Ailsa O’Riordan, PhD Student (University of St Andrews)
James Metcalf, Postdoctoral Researcher (Max-Planck-Institut für Kohlenforschung)
Benjamin Brereton, PhD Student (University of Leeds)
Luke Daniels, Research Coordinator in Materials Chemistry (University of Liverpool)
Chengyu Jiang, Postdoctoral Fellow (KTH, Royal Institute of Technology)
Daniel Mayoh, Assistant Professor (University of Warwick)
James Annis, Research Fellow (University of Birmingham)
Arjit Shankar Banerjee, PhD Student (University of St Andrews)
Dipranjan Chatterjee, Postdoctoral Research Assistant (University of Oxford)
Hallam Greene, PhD Student (University of Bristol)
Jheng-Cyuan Lin, Postdoctoral Researcher (Diamond Light Source)
Alex Neale, UKRU Future Leaders Fellow and Lecturer (University of Liverpool)
Lucy Costley-Wood, Postdoctoral Fellow (University College London (UCL))
Robbie Shaw, DPhil Student (University of Oxford)
Yash Rajesh Tijare, PhD Student (Instiut Laue Langevin)
Muhammad Sufian Sadiq, PhD Student (Queen Mary University of London)
Luke Peters, Lecturer in Photonics (Loughborough University)
David Danaci, Research Fellow (Imperial College London)
Riccardo Rossini, Postdoctoral Fellow (University of Pavia & INFN Pavia)
Harol David Martínez Hernández, PhD Student (Institut Laue-Langevin)
Edison Gushque, PhD Student (University of Strathclyde)
Juan Edwin James, PhD Student (Institute Laue-Langevin)
Liam Nagle-Cocco, Postdoctoral Researcher (Stanford University)
Benjamin Moss, Lecturer in Inorganic Materials Chemistry (UCL)
Philipp Niklowitz, Associate Professor (Royal Holloway, University of London)
Beth Johnston, Assistant Professor (University of Warwick)
Leonie Stödter, Instrument Scientist (Forschungszentrum Jülich, JCNS at MLZ)
Thomas Ashton, Associate Professor (UCL)
Alexander O’Malley, Senior Lecturer (University of Bath)
Elliott Perryman, PhD (Institute Laue-Langevin)
Rick (P.W.) Mengyan, Professor of Physics (Northern Michigan University)
Aleksandra Gorecka, PGR Student (Cardiff University)
Georgia Fields, PhD Student (University of Oxford)
Rebecca Rae, Research Specialist in Materials Chemistry (University of Edinburgh)
Diogo A Fernandes De Almeida, Research Fellow (University of St Andrews)
Peter Nguyen Minh, PhD Student (Queen Mary University of London & ISIS)
Cara Waters, Postdoctoral Research Associate (Queen Mary University of London)
Gregory Rees, Research Fellow (University of Oxford)
Dita Puspita Sari, Associate Professor (Shibaura Institute of Technology)
Marta Peña Fernández, Assistant Professor (Heriot-Watt University)
Jade Doody, PhD Student (University of Birmingham)
Thomas Harvey, PhD Student (University of Manchester)
Kathryn Edmondson, PhD Student (University of Manchester)
Jack Harrison, Postdoctoral Researcher (Diamond Light Source)
Ida Janiak, PhD Student (The University of Manchester)
Emily Walls, PhD Student (University of Manchester)
Phoebe Meadows, PhD Student (Royal Holloway, University of London)
Thomas Williams, ALMA Support Scientist (JBCA, University of Manchester)
Louis Jakobson, PhD Student (University of Bristol)
Jon Newnham, Research Associate (University of Aberdeen)
Abhishek Paul, PhD Student (Loughborough University)
Jaimee Greenwood, PhD Student (University of Manchester, JBCA)
Jamie Incley, PhD Student (University of Manchester)
Thomas Karagiannis, PhD Candidate (University College Dublin)
Richard Gammons, Green Chemistry Technical Manager & X-Ray Crystallographer (University of York)
Lily Correa Magnus, PhD (University of Manchester)
Ewan Allan, Research Associate (Heriot-Watt University)
Sarah McKinney, Pdra (Imperial College London)
Peter Willendrup, Senior Research Engineer (DTU Physics & ESS DMSC)
José Luis Del Río Rodríguez, PhD Student (Instituto de Tecnología Química (CSIC-UPV))
Aliki Gerakianaki, PhD Researcher (Institut Laue Langevin)
Harry Lloyd, PhD Student (University of Birmingham)
Sohini Dutta, PhD Student (The University of Manchester)
Isabel Antony, PhD Researcher (UCL)
Nathan Coles, Research Associate (Cardiff University)
Anand Tiwari, PhD Student (ILL France and RUC Denmark)
Fanny Costa, (University of Leeds)
Wesley Surta, Research Faculty (Oregon State University)
Eliza Dempsey, Postdoctoral Fellow (Trinity College Dublin)
James Steele, Pdra (University of Oxford)
Victor Volkov, Research Scientist (Nottingham Trent University)
Jenny Spiga, Lecturer (Loughborough University)
Ashlin Jacob, PhD Student (Loughborough University)
Jaise Johnson, PhD Researcher (University of Manchester)
Nicolai Amin, PhD (Institut Laue-Langevin (ILL))
Abi Ghaderian, Postdoc (UCL)
Chandraleka Viswanaath Shanthamani, PhD Student (University college Dublin)
Amba Datt Pant, Researcher (KEK/J-PARC, Japan)
Zhouyu Zhang, PhD Student (The University of Manchester)
Izumi Umegaki, Assistant Professor (KEK)
Paul Topham, Professor and Director of the Aston Institute for Membrane Excellence (Aston University)
Ryutaro Okuma, Assistant Professor (University of Tokyo)
Matej Pregelj, Senior Researcher (Jožef Stefan Institute, Ljubljana, Slovenia)
Anjali Kumari, PhD Student (Instiut Laue Langevin)
Amy Pon, Research Intern (Paul Scherrer Institute)
Kevin Jaksetič, PhD Student (Jožef Stefan Institute)
Haoxin Peng, PHD Student (university of Warwick)
Isabel Megatli-Niebel, PhD Student (Paul Scherrer Institute)
Kirstin Wilson, PhD Student (Institut Laue Langevin)
Lee Durndell, Associate Professor (University of plymouth)
Pascual Oña-Burgos, Permanent Reseracher (ITQ)
Nicola Collis, PhD Student (UCL)
Bruno Kenichi Saika, Post-Doctoral Researcher (University of St Andrews)
Matthew Rogers, Experimental Officer (University of Leeds)
Edward Stuckey, Postdoctoral Researcher (Uppsala University)
Nick Parak, DPhil Student (University of Oxford)
Cameron Wilson, Research Fellow (University of Warwick)
Finn Sombrutzki, PhD Student (Institut Max von Laue - Paul Langevin (ILL))
Brendan Healy, Postdoctoral Researcher (University of Warwick)
Geetha Balakrishnan, Professor (University of Warwick)
Joshua Bishop, PhD Student (University of Manchester)
Michael Quin, Postdoc (Gothenburg University)
Matthew Pearce, Postdoctoral Researcher (Durham University)
Pritha Paul, Postdoctoral Researcher (Ludwig Maximilian University of Munich)
Dylan Tawse, Postdoctoral Research Fellow (University of Aberdeen)
Anup Yadav, PhD Student (University of Warwick)
Hank Wu, Postdoctoral Researcher (University of Oxford)
Ashok Menon, Assistant Professor (Research-Focussed) (WMG)
Alvaro Etcheverry-Berrios, Senior Lecturer in Inorganic Chemistry (Manchester Metropolitan University)
Georgia Orton, Leverhulme Trust Early Career Fellow (University of Birmingham)
Oto-Obong Inyang, Assistant Professor (Durham University)
Marta Falkowska, Dame Kathleen Ollerenshaw Fellow and Harwell Fellow (The University of Manchester)
Asmita Rohit, PhD Student (Institut Laue Langevin)
Martin Lindberg, Postdoctoral Research Associate (Queen Mary University of London)
Mustafa Tokac, Associate Professor (Alanya Alaaddin Keykubat University, Turkiye)
M. Asuncion Molina, Postdoctoral Research Assistant (Diamond Light Source)
Jennifer Gilbert, Postdoctoral Researcher (Chalmers University of Technology)
Xiaoyan Lu, Undergraduate Student (University College Dublin)
Lezhi Zhan, Dphil Student (University of Oxford)
Jonas A. Krieger, Tenure Track Scientist (Paul Scherrer Institute)
Daniel Halliday, Postdoctoral Research Associate (Durham University)
Tine Kalac, PhD Student (Stockholm University)
Chinnasamy Murugesan, Research Fellow (University of St Andrews)
Manisha Islam, Postdoctoral Research Fellow (Paul Scherrer Institute, Switzerland)
Anuradha Bandaranayake Patabandi Mudiyanselage, PhD Student and Postgraduate Teaching Assistant (University College London)
Xiao Zhao, Postdoc (Paul Scherrer Institute)
Angus Hodgkiss, PhD Student (Durham University)
Marios Hadjimichael, Associate Professor in Physics (University of Warwick)
Zeke Coady, PhD Student (Cambridge)
Josh Selfridge, PhD Student (University of Manchester)
Trevor Clarke, Journalist (BBC)
Vijayakumar P Rajamanickam, Marie-Curie Seal of Excellence Holder (University of Bristol)
Gaurav Chaudhary, Lecturer (University of Bristol)
Moniek Tromp, Prof Materials Chemistry Director Zernike Institite for Advanced Materials (Uni Groningen, The Netherlands)
Kaushick Parui, PhD Researcher (TU Dresden)
Alex Rettie, Associate Professor (UCL)
Ying Wang, Ms. (Fudan University)
Bailin Chen, Graduate Student (Fudan University)
Malcolm Scarrott, Master’s Student (University of Cape Town/South African Astronomical Observatory)
Enzo Liotti, Lecturer (University of Oxford)
Inés Lezcano González, Dame Kathleen Ollerenshaw Fellow and Harwell Fellow (The University of Manchester)
Abdullah Al Abdulghani, Lecturer (University College Dublin)
Freya Johnson, Schmidt Sciences Fellow (Imperial College London)
Bratislav Lukic, Scientist (ILL)
Jennifer Johnstone-Hack, Royal Academy of Engineering Research Fellow (University of Sheffield)
Daniel Flavian, Postdoctoral Researcher (University of Oxford)
Adam Morris, PhD (UCL)
Anshu Kataria, Postdoctoral Fellow (University of Parma, Italy)
Yiu Fung Chiu, DPhil Studeng (University of Oxford)
Soumyarup Hait, Post-Doctoral Research Associate (University of Leeds)
Sandip Guchhait, Postdoc (Denmark Technical University)
Seán Kavanagh, Assistant Professor in Simulation of Energy Materials (University of Cambridge)
Yuk Shan Cheng, Postdoctoral Research Associate (Heriot-Watt University)
Shruti Chakravarty, Research Fellow (University of Birmingham)
Jacob Lewis Brownlee, PhD Student (University of Birmingham / ISIS Neutron and Muon Source)
Amie Troath, PhD Researcher (University of Birmingham)
Yoshiko Nanao, Post-Doc Researcher (University of St Andrews)
Jamie Allen, Pdra (University of Sheffield)
Rinku Kushwaha, Pdra (Department of Materials Science and Metallurgy, University of Cambridge)
Luis Leon, Postdoctoral Researcher (University of Cambridge)
Barbara Ciani, Senior Lecturer in Biophysical Chemistry (University of Sheffield)
Celine Beck, PhD Student (Uni Glasgow)
Patricija Mendelyte, PhD Student (University of Edinburgh)
Max Pelly, Research Fellow (University of St Andrews)
Libby Marshall, Pdra (University of Glasgow)
Alexander Park, PhD Student (University of Strathclyde)
Abbie Madden, PhD Student (University of Strathclyde)
Luc Costello Heaven, Postdoctoral Training Fellow (Institute of Cancer Research)
Arlidh Baird, PhD Student (University of Strathclyde)
Magdalene Chong, Postdoctoral Researcher (University of Strathclyde)
Malin Zollner, PhD Student (University of Strathclyde)
Leah Haworth, PhD Student (University of Strathclyde)
Jacob Bracegirdle-Morais, PhD Student (University of Birmingham)
Anthony North, Professor (Retired) (University of Leeds)