Research facilities
two ice–strengthened research vessels and
a fleet of small aircraft for Antarctic
transport. All of these are operated by the
British Antarctic Survey (BAS).The stations
provide a platform for globally significant
research in atmospheric science, glaciology,
aquatic life sciences, meteorology,
geosciences and human biology. BAS has a
number of collaborative agreements with
US funders including NASA.
The UK hosts a number of world leading
research facilities which comprise an
important part of the UK’s R&D capacity and
underpin the UK’s ambitions in science and
innovation.
The UK’s Research Councils fund and
operate many of these facilities across the
whole spectrum of academic disciplines, as
well as ensuring that the UK’s researchers
have access to the facilities, data and
resources they require to pursue their
research, wherever these are located.
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Leading facilities and resources include:
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The Diamond Light Source opened in
2007 on the Harwell Science and
Innovation Campus is the largest scientific
instrument built in the UK in over 40
years. It uses a circular electron
synchrotron to produce beams of x-ray,
infra-red and ultra-violet light.These
photon beams are used to probe the
structure of matter and materials, for
applications in physics, chemistry and
materials science, and increasingly
importantly for biology and medicine.
STFC is responsible for the UK’s
subscription to CERN, including the Large
Hadron Collider (LHC); the world’s largest
particle accelerator.The LHC will bring a
new level of understanding of the
fundamental constituents of the universe.
Fully exploiting the LHC is the highest
priority of the UK particle physics
programme and will require an upgrade to
the beam intensity starting around 2015,
for which R&D is starting now.
NERC is responsible for the UK’s polar
research facilities, including the Halley and
Rothera Research Stations in Antarctica, a
seasonal Arctic research base in Svalbard,
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The new UK Household Longitudinal
Study is a $31 million investment between
the Department of Innovation, Universities
and Skills and ESRC and will be the largest
household panel study in the world. It will
follow nearly 100,000 individuals in 40,000
households and will help to inform and
evaluate long term policy decisions in
areas such as housing, health, and
education.
Operated by STFC at located at the
Rutherford Appleton Laboratory, ISIS is the
world's leading pulsed neutron and muon
source. ISIS supports an international
community of around 1,600 scientists who
use neutrons and muons for research in
physics, chemistry, materials science,
geology, engineering and biology. A second
target station for ISIS is under construction
and due to become operational from
2008.
The UK’s Research Councils are also
responsible for the UK Large Facilities
Roadmap which provides a comprehensive
picture of UK supported facilities that are
already under construction or operational,
and provides details of potential large facility
and equipment projects that the Research
Councils would like to see available to
researchers over the next 10-15 years.The
Roadmap is used by the Research Councils
and the Department for Innovation,
Universities and Skills to help decide which
large scale facilities or infrastructure the UK
should invest in.The Roadmap also provides a
basis for discussions with international
partners about future investments, including
forming the UK contribution to the European
Strategy Forum for Research Infrastructure’s
(ESFRI) roadmap.
UK Science and
Innovation Campuses
In March 2006 the UK Government
announced the development of two UK
Science and Innovation Campuses, one
based on the STFC’s Daresbury
Laboratory in Cheshire and the other at
Harwell, incorporating the STFC’s
Rutherford Appleton Laboratory in
Oxfordshire.The vision is to create two
multi-partner internationally leading
centres of excellence for science and
innovation.This will build upon STFC’s
existing research facilities, expertise and
programmes to attract new university
and international science and technology
programmes, as well as significant private
sector investment to drive innovation.
The Daresbury Science and Innovation
Campus is a partnership between the
STFC, North West Development Agency,
Halton Borough Council and Universities
of Manchester, Liverpool and Lancaster
and is already demonstrating the exciting
potential of this unique model.The
Daresbury Innovation Centre, co-located
alongside the STFC laboratory, now
houses 55 companies at various stages of
the industry lifecycle.
Both campuses offer significant potential
for inward investment from US
universities and companies.