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 05 September 2008 09:52 BST

"Ambitious" science funding announced

Friday, 04 Jul 2008 12:19
£1.9 billion of funding has been announced for science projects
A total of £1.9 billion of funding over the next three years has been announced for physics and astronomy projects that will have a 'great scientific impact'.

The Science and Technology Facilities Council (STFC) says the funding will maintain UK scientific leadership in physics and astronomy and operate world-leading facilities for the benefit of UK scientists.

Projects selected for funding from the 1,400 submissions made from UK and international experts include support for UK participation in global astronomy projects; particle physics experiments; a neutrino physics project in Japan; a nuclear physics facility in Germany; the search for gravitational waves; and exploring whether life has ever been present on Mars.

Funding will further research at the Diamond Light Source in Harwell, Oxfordshire, where researchers hope to harness a light ten billion times brighter than the sun to map atomic and molecular structures.

And at the STFC's Rutherford Appleton Laboratory (RAL) in Oxfordshire, a new laser under development will enable UK scientists to monitor biological processes such as those in living cells at a millionth of a millionth of a second.

STFC chief executive Professor Keith Mason said UK scientists "have a lot to look forward to".

"STFC has balanced its budget and agreed on a very ambitious and scientifically sound programme of funding," he added.

"STFC is funding an exciting portfolio of projects which will deliver excellent research and maintain the UK's scientific leadership."

On choosing which projects would receive funding, Professor Mason commented: "We've made some difficult but necessary choices in order to keep the UK at the forefront of international scientific research.

"We have targeted our money very carefully at the areas which will have greatest impact for UK science."
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