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42-473: The Natural Environment Research Council ( NERC ) is a British research council that supports research, training and knowledge transfer activities in the environmental sciences. NERC began in 1965 when several environmental (mainly geographic) research organisations (including Nature Conservancy which became the Nature Conservancy Council in 1973 and was divided up in 1991) were brought under

84-768: A data analysis team at the Plymouth Marine Laboratory and archived at the National Earth Observation Data Centre (NEODC). Currently the NERC ARF provides radiometrically corrected hyperspectral data from the AISA Fenix and Owl instruments; ground height information from the Leica ALS50-II; and digital photography. Research Councils UK The role of the RCUK was to: Each of the research councils

126-564: A public nomination. The councils receive public funds from the Department for Business, Innovation and Skills , and each reports annually to the British Parliament. In 2008 the combined annual budget was £3.5 billion, of which over £1 billion went to research grants and training at universities . This is one element of the UK's dual system of research funding, the other being block grants provided by

168-431: A significant role include: In recent years, there has been an increasing political drive towards requiring that the science undertaken at RAL and the technology created there result in a proportional economic benefit to the UK to justify the investment of public funds in the laboratory. RAL management has argued that this is achieved in various ways, including: According to its Annual Report from 2017 to 2018, STFC expects

210-492: A single research council which provides access for UK scientists to national and international research facilities. From June 2007 the research councils reported to the Department for Innovation, Universities and Skills as the making of innovation policy was merged with the making of policy for universities and skills training, and separated from industrial policy under the Department for Business, Enterprise and Regulatory Reform . In 2008 RCUK Shared Services Centre Ltd (SSC)

252-559: A small number of central laboratories and a large number of research units associated with universities and hospitals. In 1931 the Agricultural Research Council was established by incorporating twelve major agricultural research institutes that had been created in England and Wales in 1914. In 1949 Nature Conservancy was established as a research council in all but name. The National Research Development Corporation (NRDC)

294-491: A staff of approximately 1,200 people who support the work of over 10,000 scientists and engineers, chiefly from the university research community. The laboratory's programme is designed to deliver trained manpower and economic growth for the UK as the result of achievements in science. RAL is named after the physicists Ernest Rutherford and Edward Appleton . The National Institute for Research in Nuclear Science (NIRNS)

336-509: Is an equal partner in RCUK, and each uses its best endeavours to identify and pursue opportunities for mutually-beneficial joint working with one or more of the other research councils. Each research council is a non-departmental public body incorporated by royal charter . Each is governed by its own governing council comprising a mix of academic and non-academic members, appointed by the Secretary for Innovation, Universities and Skills following

378-556: Is better exercised in conjunction with research in the medical, agricultural and other fields". After 1967 it was relaxed by Solly Zuckerman , who chaired the Cabinet -level Central Advisory Council for Science and Technology and brought the Department of Education and Science and the Ministry of Technology together, but this conflict remains a regular point of contention. Under the control of

420-895: Is one of the national scientific research laboratories in the UK operated by the Science and Technology Facilities Council (STFC). It began as the Rutherford High Energy Laboratory , merged with the Atlas Computer Laboratory in 1975 to create the Rutherford Lab ; then in 1979 with the Appleton Laboratory to form the current laboratory. It is located on the Harwell Science and Innovation Campus at Chilton near Didcot in Oxfordshire, United Kingdom. It has

462-551: The Appleton Laboratory to form the current Rutherford Appleton Laboratory. With the closure of the Royal Greenwich Observatory in 1998, some small offices also moved to RAL. Similarly, laser technology moved to RAL from Joint European Torus at Culham to become the foundation of the Central Laser Facility. To be able to decide the priorities for government funding across all areas of scientific research,

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504-517: The British Academy since 1998. From 2006 the research councils reported to the Office of Science and "Innovation" instead of "Technology", as the policy focus switched from technology objects to innovation process, although it was still within the Department of Trade and Industry . In April 2007 PPARC and CCLRC were combined to form the Science and Technology Facilities Council (STFC) to create

546-624: The British Geological Survey in 1832, and the allocation of funds in 1850 to the Royal Society to award individual grants. By the First World War in 1915, claims about the poor state of British manufacturing compared to Germany's led to the Department of Scientific and Industrial Research (DSIR). It was a part of government, staffed by civil servants who distributed grants, operated laboratories, and made policy. Examples included

588-506: The CCLRC – which took responsibility for RAL from EPSRC in 1995 ), so that each could then focus its development around one of three incompatible business models – administratively efficient short duration grant distribution, medium term commitments to international agreements, long-term commitments to staff and facilities provision. To unify the planning of the provision for UK scientists to access large national and international facilities, in 2007

630-511: The Committee of Enquiry into the Organisation of Civil Science . One major recommendation was that the unwieldy Department of Scientific and Industrial Research (DSIR) should be divided into a Science Research Council, a Natural Resources Research Council (NRDC), and an Industrial Research and Development Authority (IRDA) to address scientific research and industrial innovation, respectively, with

672-712: The Daresbury Laboratory from NIRNS. NERC incoporporated the Nature Conservancy and British Geological Survey . Also founded in 1965 was the Social Sciences Research Council (later the ESRC ) bringing the number of Research Councils to five—Medicine, Agriculture, Natural Environment, Science, and Social Science—divided by disciplines that were not expected to collaborate. In 1981, the emphasis in policy on innovation rather than pure science increased so

714-623: The Department of Education and Science , the Science and Technology Act 1965 created both the Science Research Council (SRC) and the Natural Environment Research Council (NERC). The SRC incorporated most of the science part of DSIR, including the Appleton Laboratory, and both the Royal Greenwich Observatory and Royal Observatory Edinburgh , and took control of the Rutherford High Energy Laboratory and

756-890: The Haldane Principle , the idea that decisions are best made by researchers independently from government. Research council funding competitions use open peer review. There are seven research councils: The MRC 's headquarters is in central London and the other six research councils and the RCUK operate from a single complex in Swindon . The research councils also have a joint office in Brussels since 1984—the United Kingdom Research Office (UKRO) —and in 2007 and 2008 established three additional foreign offices in Beijing , China , Washington, DC , and New Delhi , India . In 2007

798-542: The ISIS Neutron and Muon Source injector linac over 50 years after their first use. Since then the laboratory has grown both with the expansion of its established facilities, and the incorporation of facilities from other institutions to provide the benefits from economies of scale . The major mergers were in 1975 with the adjacent Atlas Computer Laboratory creating the Rutherford Laboratory, and then in 1979 with

840-709: The Radio Research Station , established in Ditton Park in 1924, which later became the Appleton Laboratory . In 1918 Richard Haldane produced a report on the machinery of government that recommended that government departments undertake more research before making policy and that they should oversee that specific, policy-minded research, while more general research should be governed by autonomous councils free from political pressure. Lord Hailsham dubbed this separation of duties as "the Haldane principle " in 1964 when he

882-625: The Roslin Institute , and the Rutherford Appleton Laboratory . However, in the UK funding system only a few permanent institutes that require permanent infrastructure are directly controlled or core-funded by the Councils. Most funding is allocated competitively and few awards last more than ten years, which allows the Councils to vary capacity to meet changing priorities and challenges. Research council funding decisions are guided by

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924-404: The environmental sciences , to advance knowledge of planet Earth as a complex, interacting system. The council's work covers the full range of atmospheric , Earth, biological , terrestrial and aquatic sciences , from the deep oceans to the upper atmosphere , and from the geographical poles to the equator . NERC's mission is to gather and apply knowledge, create understanding and predict

966-515: The CCLRC merged with PPARC and incorporated the nuclear physics discipline from EPSRC to create the Science and Technology Facilities Council which then took responsibility for RAL. The site hosts some of the UK's major scientific facilities, including: Also hosted are: In addition to hosting facilities for the UK, RAL also operates departments to co-ordinate the UK programme of participation in major international facilities. The largest of these are

1008-698: The NRDC to be transferred to the Minister of Science's portfolio in order to ensure a smooth transition through the linear model of innovation . After the national election , the government chose to align scientific research with education in a Department of Education and Science , while industrial innovation was assigned to a Ministry of Technology . This was seen as a barrier between research and innovation, and when he stepped down as Science Minister, Lord Hailsham argued, "Ever since 1915 it has been considered axiomatic that responsibility for industrial research and development

1050-785: The SRC became the Science and Engineering Research Council (SERC). In 1983 the ARC also changed its focus to outputs rather than methods to become the Agricultural and Food Research Council (AFRC). From 1992 the Research Councils reported to the Office of Science and Technology in the Cabinet Office as the making of government departmental policy by the Office of the Chief Scientific Adviser

1092-762: The Science & Technology Act of 1965 created the Science Research Council (SRC) which took over management of the Rutherford High Energy Laboratory from NIRNS along with many other previously disparate UK science bodies. To prioritise economic impact over blue skies research , the SRC became the Science and Engineering Research Council (SERC) in the early 1980s, and in 1994, the SERC was eventually divided into three Research Councils (the EPSRC , PPARC and

1134-583: The UK Funding Councils for higher education. Research Council grants support around 50,000 researchers through 18,000 grants at any one time. About 8,000 PhDs are awarded annually as a result of their funding. The Councils directly employ around 13,000 staff, 9,000 of whom are researchers and technicians at institutes such as the British Antarctic Survey , the Laboratory of Molecular Biology ,

1176-420: The UK environmental science community and play significant and influential roles in international science collaborations. It also supports a number of collaborative centres of excellence and subject-based designated Environmental Data Centres for the storage and distribution of environmental data. The Natural Environment Research Council delivers independent research, survey, training and knowledge transfer in

1218-543: The allocation of university research grants. At the same time the biological science activities of SERC were merged with the AFRC to form the Biotechnology and Biological Sciences Research Council (BBSRC). From 1995 the research councils reported to the Office of Science and Technology in the Department of Trade and Industry as government science policy became more linked to industrial policy . In 2002 Research Councils UK

1260-494: The areas of particle physics , and space science . In particle physics the largest international project is the Large Hadron Collider at CERN , but RAL has a major role in the UK participation in several other projects such as: In space science , RAL builds components for, and tests satellites, as well as receiving, analysing and curating the data collected by those spacecraft. Satellite missions in which RAL has

1302-480: The behaviour of the natural environment and its resources , and communicate all aspects of the council's work. The British Meteorological Office is not part of NERC. The NERC Airborne Research Facility ( ARF ) collects and processes remotely sensed data for use by the scientific community. Data are collected from one of four Twin Otter research aircraft (or a Dash 7) operated by British Antarctic Survey, processed by

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1344-485: The end of the ISIS pulsed neutron source and the associated Second Target Station to be in 2040 and anticipates decommissioning to take 55 years. The cost of radioactive waste disposal could range between £9 million and £16 million. RAL was used as a set for the filming of an episode of Terry Nation 's BBC TV series Blake's 7 . The computer-generated imagery (CGI) for Ridley Scott 's 1979 film Alien were created at

1386-522: The government raised the status of the Technology Strategy Board (TSB) to become, in effect, a research council for industry. This was motivated by a concern that the seven research councils, with their emphasis on academic excellence, were giving insufficient attention to innovation through the application of research findings. The TSB has set up its headquarters next door to the Swindon offices of

1428-455: The need to meet long-term commitments, cuts regularly fell on the short-term grants, thereby alienating the research community. In 1994 SERC finally split into the EPSRC and PPARC to further separate innovation-orientated engineering from pure research into particle physics and astronomy . In 1995, the CCLRC was spun out of the EPSRC, dividing responsibility for laboratories from those for

1470-421: The one umbrella organisation . When most research councils were re-organised in 1994, it had new responsibilities – Earth observation and science-developed archaeology . Collaboration between research councils increased in 2002 when Research Councils UK was formed. The council's head office is at Polaris House in Swindon , alongside the other six Research Councils. NERC's research centres provide leadership to

1512-614: The research councils. In 2014 the TSB started calling itself Innovate UK , and in 2018 Innovate UK, the research councils and Research England were formally united into UK Research and Innovation (UKRI). Government funding of science in the United Kingdom began in 1675 when the Royal Observatory was established in Greenwich . This trend continued in the 19th century with the creation of

1554-712: Was Minister of Science; it has remained a guiding principle ever since. Following the Haldane Report's recommendations, a Medical Research Council (MRC) was created in 1920 from a previous body called the Medical Research Committee that had been established in 1913 to distribute funds collected under the National Insurance Act 1911 . In contrast to DSIR, the MRC was not a government department, its staff were not civil servants, and it concentrated its resources in

1596-613: Was also created to provide financial assistance for the development of inventions. In 1957 the National Institute for Research in Nuclear Science (NIRNS) was formed to operate the Rutherford High Energy Laboratory , and in 1962 the Daresbury Laboratory . By 1964 there were 14,150 science and engineering graduates in the UK, up from 7,688 in 1955, and annual civil and military research expenditure had risen from £0.6 million in 1913 to £10 million in 1939 to £76 million in 1964. To respond to this growth, in 1963 Sir Burke Trend chaired

1638-450: Was created as a secretariat in order to bring together the research councils at a higher level to work together more effectively. In 2005 the Arts and Humanities Research Council (AHRC) was established in order to bring research funding in the arts and humanities into line with that for other disciplines. It was created from the former Arts and Humanities Research Board, which had been managed by

1680-500: Was created as a separate company to share administrative duties and cut costs. From June 2009 the research councils reported to the Department for Business, Innovation and Skills as the making of higher education and innovation policy (from the Department for Innovation, Universities and Skills ) was merged back with business policy making ( Department for Business, Enterprise and Regulatory Reform ). Rutherford Appleton Laboratory The Rutherford Appleton Laboratory ( RAL )

1722-600: Was formed in 1957 to operate the Rutherford High Energy Laboratory established next to the Atomic Energy Research Establishment on the former RAF Harwell airfield between Chilton and Harwell . The 50 MeV proton linear accelerator was transferred from the Atomic Energy Research Establishment to the new laboratory to become a national facility for particle physics as the Nimrod . Some components of this linear accelerator are still operating as part of

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1764-463: Was merged with the making of national science policy by the Science Branch of the Department of Education and Science. SERC struggled to combine three incompatible business models—administratively efficient short-term grant distribution, medium-term commitments to international agreements, and long-term commitments to staff and facilities. Given a lack of control over exchange rate fluctuations and

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