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The Guardian - UK
The Guardian - UK
Comment
Jon Butterworth

These cuts to physics research will be a disaster for UK scientists – and for our standing in the world

Mark Thomson at Cern, Switzerland. 8 December 2025.
Mark Thomson’s appointment as director-general of Cern in Switzerland has been marred by the cuts announcement. Photograph: Alban Kakulya/Panos Pictures

Alarm bells are ringing in the UK research community. Physics departments may close and researchers leave the UK. What is happening and why?

The alarm comes from changes in the way taxpayers’ money is invested by UK Research and Innovation (UKRI), which recently published its plan on how to disburse £38.6bn of public research and development funding over the next four years. Change is always unsettling, and as the UKRI’s chief executive, Ian Chapman, says, there will always be those who lose out when change happens. Difficult choices must be made.

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