13 March 2026

Professor Michele Dougherty
Executive Chair, Science and Technology Facilities Council

Professor Sir Ian Chapman
Chief Executive, UK Research and Innovation

Re: The Impact of STFC Budget Reductions on the Broader UK Research Community

Dear Professor Dougherty and Professor Sir Ian Chapman,

We write to you as researchers working across a range of UK science disciplines whose work depends critically on access to the large-scale national facilities operated and supported by the Science and Technology Facilities Council (STFC). We wish to draw your attention to an aspect of the proposed STFC budget reductions that we believe has so far received insufficient attention in the public discourse: the consequences for the substantial portion of the UK research community that relies on STFC facilities but is funded through other UKRI research councils.

Much of the reaction to these cuts has focused on researchers in particle physics, astronomy, and nuclear physics, who depend on STFC for applicant-led grant funding. We fully support those concerns. However, STFC’s role extends well beyond funding a single scientific community. It operates and financially sustains world-class research infrastructure, including ISIS Neutron and Muon Source, Diamond Light Source, and the Central Laser Facility, and it manages the UK’s participation in major international collaborations such as the European Synchrotron Radiation Facility, European Spallation Source, and European XFEL. These facilities serve researchers from all areas of UK science.

This breadth was illustrated clearly in the LinkedIn post by Prof. Alan Heavens https://www.linkedin.com/posts/alan-heavens-87b72817_drilling-down-into-the-diamond-light-source-activity-7434659576823664641-tcEv, which shows that at Diamond Light Source, over 90% of UKRI-funded research activity is supported not by STFC, but by EPSRC, BBSRC, and MRC. This pattern is not unique to Diamond. Researchers like ourselves, whose curiosity-led research is funded by other funding councils, rely on STFC-operated facilities. Without continued access to these facilities, significant areas of UKRI-funded research simply could not proceed.

We understand the financial pressures facing STFC are genuine and, in part, structurally unique: the long planning timescales, the rising cost of electricity, and the exposure to foreign exchange fluctuations that come with operating large facilities and international partnerships. These challenges were acknowledged in Prof. Sir Ian Chapman’s open letter of 1 February, and we do not minimise them. However, we are concerned that the voice of the PPAN community may overshadow the important role of facilities that support research in other areas of science.

We therefore urge you, in developing and implementing any reductions to STFC’s budget, to:

• Ensure that the assessment of impact considers all user communities of STFC facilities, not only those receiving STFC applicant-led funding.
• Engage actively with EPSRC, BBSRC, MRC, and other relevant councils to quantify the dependency of their funded research programmes on STFC-operated infrastructure.
• Explore mechanisms by which the broader beneficiaries of STFC facilities, including researchers funded by other councils, can contribute to the political and financial case for protecting that infrastructure.
• Communicate transparently with all affected research communities, including those who may not yet have fully understood their exposure to the consequences of these cuts.

We recognise that these are difficult decisions made under significant constraints. Our intention in writing is not to oppose difficult choices, but to ensure that those choices are made with full visibility of who is affected. STFC’s facilities are a shared national asset, and their value to UK science extends far beyond the boundaries of any single research community.

We would welcome the opportunity to discuss these concerns further and to contribute evidence of the breadth of facility use across the research community.

Yours sincerely,

Andrew McCluskey, University of Bristol
Jem Pitcairn, University of Birmingham
James Cumby, University of Edinburgh
Claire Hobday, University of Edinburgh
Amanda Jarvis, University of Edinburgh
Matthew Potter, University of Bath
Euan Brechin, University of Edinburgh
Lingcong Meng, University of Edinburgh
Anita Jones, University of Edinburgh