As you may know there is a significant shortfall in the STFC budget, they are the body that runs Diamond and the UK contribution to ESRF amongst many other things. The response to this shortfall is to place the facilities and projects in categories of importance, this information now in the public domain at http://www.scitech.ac.uk/stfcconsultation/comment.aspx and comments are invited on this web page.
It is important to note that we have less than three weeks to respond. It may be that apparent indifference from our community may allow louder voices from competing groups greater influence. At STFC “town meeting” yesterday there was only one other protein crystallographer I recognised. It may help to know that there are two panels PPAN (Particle Physics, Astronomy and Nuclear Physics) and PALS (Physical and Life Sciences) who report to the science board of STFC. The publicity surrounding cuts in astrophysics research has been extensive. Peter Moody 1/56 Henry Wellcome Laboratories University of Leicester Lancaster Road Leicester LE1 9HN UK tel. (0)116 229 7097 fax. (0)116 229 7084 ________________________________
