| Year 2008 No. 39, March 31, 2008 | ARCHIVE | HOME | JBBOOKS | SUBSCRIBE |
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A major attack on science is under way, in the form of cutbacks in basic research. The immediate cause of these cutbacks is a reported £80 million funding shortfall in the budget of the recently formed Science and Technology Facilities Council (STFC). The areas being hit hardest are particle physics and astronomy. For example:
However, it is clear that this is not a case of financial mismanagement. The government has taken a definite decision to turn its back on particle physics and astronomy. The 13.6% rise in the STFC budget to £6.5m by 2011, allotted in the last comprehensive spending review by the government, "represented an essentially flat cash allocation", according to STFC chief executive Prof. Keith Mason, which has left the Council short of the funding necessary for its commitments. Under the pretext of a shortfall, key areas and programmes of science are being allowed to descend into a state of crisis and die, while the government puts forward no solution.
The government therefore considers science to be a matter of choice. Otherwise, how is a funding crisis in science even possible? Science is a necessity of a modern society. A defining feature of a modern society is one that is able to keep in step with the times, able to renovate itself by utilising the human factor with its social consciousness. A modern society without the science to enable this is unthinkable. Indeed, modern society owes its very existence to science.
For example, astronomy played a decisive role in smashing the old medieval notions. Galileo’s famous battle to place the Earth in its proper place in the Solar System was part of the struggle against medieval suppression, part of creating the correct perspective on humanity and its relation to the natural world and liberating human consciousness from the dogma that was holding it back.
Through particle physics, a far more recent development, previously mysterious forces have become understandable material motions. This has led to unprecedented control over nature’s basic constituents, the electron being the prime example of the 20th century.
The pragmatic view followed by the government makes science subservient to whatever economic, political and military ends are being pushed by various forces in power at a particular time. The current phase of policy began with the promotion of the "knowledge-based economy" at the end of the 1990s and the replacement of "science" with "innovation" with the aim of making British-based monopolies more competitive.
A key point was a speech made in March 2000 by Lord Sainsbury, then Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State for Science, at the Association for University Research and Industry Links conference on "Science and Technology in a Changing Environment". He first described the "knowledge-based economy" as a key component of the global economy, where "capital is mobile, technology can migrate quickly and goods can be made cheaply in low cost countries and shipped to developed markets", where the goods fetch the highest prices. He then argued that, to compete in the global market, British business must exploit "knowledge, skills and creativity, which help create high productivity business processes and high value goods and services". Further, "The new knowledge economy depends critically on exploiting our science base to create world-class ideas, breakthrough technology and high-value businesses." In other words, the scientific and technical revolution was to be used almost exclusively for the purpose of serving the "knowledge-based economy", and academic research and education would be geared to this purpose.
The result of that policy was the wave of restructuring and closure of many physics, chemistry and other university science departments that have taken place this decade. The present funding crisis is a sign that things are going beyond even that pragmatic policy. In conditions of economic and political crisis, where the only resort is to desperation, we are witnessing wholesale destruction.
In general, what is being pushed is retrogression. Ultimately, the cause of the funding crisis is that the only science to receive funding is that which most lends itself at this particular time to paying the rich. This is retrogression to a kind of medievalism in which science is subject to the absolutism of the monopolies. It represents a turning-back from the path of the Renaissance and the Enlightenment, the high road of civilisation, in which modern science and society have their origins.
However, people are not simply spectators, witnessing these negative developments and powerless to act. A position of disempowerment does not equate to powerlessness. An alternative is possible, which starts with scientists and the people demanding and organising for progress in the face of retrogression, realising the necessity for an enlightened direction for science and organising to end their marginalisation from the decisions of such fundamental importance for society. Scientists would do well to scientifically analyse what kind of economy it is that cannot give science first claim along with all other social necessities, informing public opinion and organising so that people are enabled to hold the government to account over its social responsibility to fund science according to the needs of society and the human beings that comprise it.
For detailed information, see http://www.hep.ucl.ac.uk/~markl/pp and http://www.saveastronomy.org.uk.
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Deborah Haile, Manchester Evening News, 15/3/08
A group of physics students have launched their own campaign to try and protect the future of Jodrell Bank.
Earlier this month it emerged that the future of the Cheshire observatory could be under threat because of plans to cut funding to one of its major projects.
Now a group of students from the University of Manchester - of which Jodrell Bank is a part - have joined the battle to secure its future.
The students, from the university's school of physics, believe the landmark observatory is vital for continued research and to inspire the scientists of the future.
They have already launched a website and made a video outlining the reasons why the facility should stay.
And they are backing an online petition calling on Prime Minister Gordon Brown to reverse any plans that could result in Jodrell Bank's closure.
"Jodrell Bank is at the forefront of radio astronomy," said campaigner Emily Fair. "We have made a video which introduces the topics and has students talking about their experiences about Jodrell Bank.
"We wanted to raise awareness amongst students and the general public, to encourage people to sign the petition and to write to their MPs and let them know how they feel about it."
Ms Fair said closure of the facility would have an impact on students, and claimed it could have a long-lasting impact on aspiring scientists of the future.
"There is talk about getting more and more people into science but this sends out the wrong message to young people," she said. "It is saying that science is not important."
Doubt surrounding the future of Jodrell Bank first emerged earlier this month, when the Science Technology Facilities Council hinted that the £2.5million-a-year grant for the Merlin network could be withdrawn.
Merlin, which links together six telescopes across the country, is the only system in the world which can match NASA's Hubble telescope, by peering into distant galaxies.
And it is the main project currently undertaken at the Jodrell Bank observatory.
It is one of 29 science projects that the STFC have said are "at risk", as they try to plug an £80million budget gap.
The students featured on the video point to the scientific importance of the facility, the way it has inspired them and the impact it has on youngsters.
One student captured on the video says: "Jodrell Bank is not just about scientific research. It is a national symbol of innovation and discovery. For over 50 years it has captured the imagination of the public and inspired people of all ages from all over the world to take an interest in astronomy and in science in general."
A conference, "Challenging the Market in Education", is to be held on Saturday 17 May 2008 at the Conference Centre, 27 Britannia Street, London, WC1X 9JP.
This conference is organised by the University and College Union (UCU) and supported by the National Union of Teachers (NUT) and will include contributions from experts in the field including Professor Dexter Whitfield, European Services Strategy Unit, Professor Ken Spours, Institute of Education and Professor Roger Seifert, University of Keele.
The conference will also feature workshops led by activists on:
Challenging the market is a major conference open to union activists, MPs, councillors, journalists and anyone interested in the impact of marketisation on education.
The organisers hope that this conference will be a significant step in developing the unions’ and activists’ response to the encroachment of the market and of privatisation in education.
Space is limited. *Please click here to register*: http://www.ucu.org.uk/challengingthemarket