Tag Archives: research funding

Conducting Cable

Posted on 08/09/2010 by

It is depressing is how soon after arriving in Whitehall ministers seem to pick up the traditional line on science funding. Minister: Ok, so I’m a bit new to this stuff. Why do we fund science? Usual suspect 1: Erm … Continue reading →

Posted in Politics, Science, Science Policy | Tagged , , | 1 Comment

Peter Higgs, UCL and the Right Honorable William Waldegrave

Posted on 07/09/2010 by

We’re not just looking for his boson, we also gave him a fellowship and explained his mechanism to William Waldegrave. At The Guardian.

Posted in Particle Physics, Physics, Physics Stories, Politics, Science, Science Policy | Tagged , , ,

Discover Your Paper’s Other Side

Posted on 19/08/2010 by

Good to see that an STFC employee has come up with some money-saving ideas in response to the government’s appeal. I’m not qualified to comment on the salary freeze. The point about end-of-year flexibility is so obviously true it is … Continue reading →

Posted in Politics, Science Policy | Tagged , , | 1 Comment

Brain Drained

Posted on 16/08/2010 by

This post also at the Guardian. On Saturday I went to a leaving party for Lily Asquith of LHCSound fame. Lily was one of our PhD students on the ATLAS experiment at the LHC. Having graduated, she is now heading off to a … Continue reading →

Posted in Particle Physics, Physics Stories, Writing | Tagged , , , , , , | 3 Comments

Sarkozy and the Higgs

Posted on 27/07/2010 by

A lot happened at ICHEP today, but I’ll stick to the presidential address and the Higgs. Quick Higgs recap: we know that something gives particles mass. According to our best theory, known as the Standard Model, it is theHiggs boson. And … Continue reading →

Posted in Particle Physics, Politics, Science, Science Policy | Tagged , , , | 1 Comment

Engineering a Decline?

Posted on 13/07/2010 by

In a way, I am quite impressed by the Royal Academy of Engineering. They have managed to speak very clearly in response to some difficult questions from our new political masters. What they have to say, however, is pretty depressing. … Continue reading →

Posted in Particle Physics, Politics, Science, Science Policy | Tagged , , , | 27 Comments

Money (That’s What I Want)

Posted on 29/06/2010 by

Once you pay someone enough to allow them to live comfortably, bunging more money at them is not a terribly effective motivator. In Britain, or England at least, we seem to have great trouble really accepting this. The banks crashed despite the … Continue reading →

Posted in Music, Particle Physics, Science, Science Policy | Tagged , , , , | 5 Comments

A Mammoth of Research

Posted on 25/06/2010 by

You know, there’s so much science on TV and in the papers these days. I mean, I share in the glory of science every bit as much as people who actually work at it. I certainly know much more than … Continue reading →

Posted in Rambling, Science, Science Policy, Uncategorized | Tagged , , | 20 Comments

Survival of those that Fit

Posted on 09/06/2010 by

I noticed the other day that suddenly more people were looking at my blog. So it goes - Wordpress give you lots of cool graphs to obsess over. However, that particular demon is a mere spotty imp compared to the citation-count ogre. … Continue reading →

Posted in Particle Physics, Science, Science Policy | Tagged , , , , , | 12 Comments

Labour and STFC

Posted on 29/04/2010 by

So shortly after I wrote about the parties’ science policies and what their attitude to STFC might mean (here and here), Gordon Brown did reply to the CaSE letter, and also produced a science manifesto. He even specifically referred to … Continue reading →

Posted in Politics, Science, Science Policy | Tagged , , , , , | 3 Comments