Research cuts will force scientists to share laboratories

Guardian : Savage cuts to budgets for hardware and facilities will transform scientific research in the UK, writes Ian Sample for the Guardian. Top-end equipment will be concentrated in elite universities and government centers, leaving researchers elsewhere to strike deals to get access to the facilities. Starting this month, scientists can apply to research councils for half the cost of lab equipment valued between £10 000 ($16 820) and £121 588 ($197 960) and must find the rest of the money from other sources. Research councils can choose to cover the full cost of more expensive equipment, but will decide where any facilities are based. The Engineering and Physical Sciences Research Council, whose budget will fall from £49 million ($80 million) in 2010–11 to £25 million ($41 million) in 2013–14, said it would reform equipment sharing and might pull out of some facilities to better fund leading centers. The Institute of Physics said that the lack of capital funds was likely to affect the UK’s ability to take a leading role in the European Extremely Large Telescope, an observatory to be based in Chile.