Learning and Development News

Call for more cash and a higher public profile for science

By Sue Mennell (02-05-2008)
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Learning and Development News - Call for more cash and a higher public profile for science

A new TUC report, Hybrid Cars and Shooting Stars, reveals that over the last few years a number of laboratories in the UK have either closed or had to cut back on research as a direct result of lost funding.

There is currently an £80 million shortfall affecting the Science and Technologies Facilities Council and it is feared, that unless cash is found to protect important science projects the UK’s scientific community will take its expertise and skills overseas.  If that happens, the TUC warns that the British economy will suffer as a result.

TUC General Secretary Brendan Barber said: 'The UK has a fantastic record on science but our researchers need state-of-the-art facilities at their disposal and research institutes need a highly skilled pool of scientists to recruit from.

'The Government needs to make up the £80 million shortfall or many world-beating science projects may close and their scientists leave to work elsewhere. At the very least, there should be no job losses among scientists until an independent study into the long term health of UK physics has reported.'

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