The United Kingdom's largest research funder, UK Research and Innovation (UKRI), has suspended some grant review processes in medicine, biosciences, engineering and physical sciences. It is also ending or cutting investment in projects in particle physics, astronomy and nuclear physics. Part of the reason is that the government wants UKRI to prioritize studies that generate economic growth. Some of the biggest planned cuts are at the Science and Technology Facilities Council, the part of UKRI that funds UK physicists' participation in international projects such as CERN Europe's particle-physics laboratory near Geneva, Switzerland. Nuclear physicist Paul Howarth, who on 3 March assumed the role of president of the Institute of Physics (IoP) in London, tells Nature that the country's scientists deserve a more responsible approach from their government. It feels, at the moment, that this move is overly burdensome on the key areas of particle physics, astronomy and nuclear physics,...
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