HEFCE secures physics collaboration in South East England

07 April 2008

HEFCE has approved funding of £12.5 million to bring together, promote and sustain physics provision in six departments in South East England so that they can develop and support the regional and national economy. Total additional funding over the next seven years including resources provided by the universities and partner organisations will be £27.8 million.

Professor David Eastwood, Chief Executive of the Higher Education Funding Council for England, told the HEFCE annual conference today (7 April 2007) that the Council's support for the six physics departments in the South East was the latest in a series of collaborative projects designed to strengthen research, teaching and knowledge transfer in science in different parts of the country involving 12 universities nationally ^{(see note 1)}.

In a message, 'HEFCE sustains science', Professor Eastwood said the Council was supporting a new organisation called the South East Physics Network (SEPNET). This involves the University of Kent, Queen Mary University of London, Royal Holloway University of London, the University of Southampton, University of Surrey and University of Sussex acting together to promote physics in the region, nationally and internationally.

The consortium will be led by an independent chair and will support four main collaborative research themes ^{(see note 2)}. It will also have a graduate school, an outreach programme to stimulate interest in the subject among pupils in the region's schools, and a knowledge transfer programme which will include a one-stop shop to regional employers with a special focus on small and medium-sized enterprises.

Professor Eastwood said a review undertaken by HEFCE in 2006 indicated that all the departments faced deficits if they continued to operate in isolation:

'The key to unlocking their potential has been to facilitate and support their collaboration so that they can secure greater levels of activities and leverage additional funds. By working in collaboration they can raise the quality of teaching and research, building on the strengths of the individual departments, and broaden the contribution of physics through both research and the development of highly skilled students.'

Professor Eastwood told the HEFCE conference at the University of Warwick that as well as supporting greater research collaboration, HEFCE was making impressive progress in working with partners to stimulate interest in science subjects. HEFCE had provided £15 million for demand-raising work. Four projects - Chemistry for our future, led by the Royal Society of Chemistry; Stimulating Physics, led by the Institute of Physics; the London Engineering Project, led by the Royal Academy of Engineering; and More Maths Grads, led by the Maths, Stats and Operational Research subject centre - were all successfully involved in pilot projects engaged in enhancing and enriching activities with schools and colleges in partnership with universities and employers:

'The health of these subjects and their contribution to the economy depend on their ability to attract and retain increasing numbers of students. Although it is too early to judge the long term success of the projects we are supporting, early signs are very encouraging with significant increases in UCAS applications ^{(see note 6)}. We remain committed to developing an integrated national higher education programme in STEM subjects ^{(see note 7)} which will bring together the four separate projects we currently fund so that they become firmly embedded within and across the education sectors.'

Note

1. Collaborative projects include: the Birmingham Warwick Science City Interdisciplinary Research Alliance (Universities of Birmingham and Warwick, £9.6 million HEFCE funding); Great Western Research (Universities of Bath, Bristol and Exeter, £3.9 million HEFCE funding) and the Midland Physics Alliance (Universities of Birmingham, Nottingham and Warwick, £3.9 million HEFCE funding).

2. The research programme will integrate resources across the region in the four main research themes:

condensed matter physics
particle physics
astrophysics
radiation and detector instrumentation.

3. In addition to the six core members of SEPNET there are two associate members: the Universities of Oxford and Portsmouth, who are involved in the astrophysics research theme.

4. The project has the support of key partners including the South East England Development Association, the Science and Technology Facilities Council, and the Institute of Physics.

5. A key element of the project will be a robust inter-university governance structure which will permit joint academic planning, monitor the development of physics in the region and provide a mechanism for co-ordination with HEFCE for the allocation of resources or rationalisation in response to future developments.

6. Applications to UCAS for chemistry from 2003 to 2006 have increased by 32 per cent; for physics by 15 per cent, and for engineering by 5 per cent, and for mathematics and statistics by 61 per cent.

7. STEM stands for Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics.

8. HEFCE has also provided £75 million over three years to support very high cost and vulnerable science subjects. These are physics, chemistry, chemical engineering, and mineral, metallurgy and materials engineering.

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