Committee publication · Correspondence · 11 June 2026
Letter from the Group Chief Executive, Institute of Physics relating to investment in research infrastructure: implications for UK physics, 8 June 2026
Summary
The Institute of Physics writes to the Public Accounts Committee ahead of its June 11 hearing on research infrastructure, warning that recent cuts to physics budgets—including cancellations of UK participation in CERN upgrades and expected cuts to ISIS and Diamond Light Source—risk undermining the UK's global research standing, eroding early-career talent, and destroying decades of investment. The letter argues these cuts compound NAO-identified weaknesses in long-term planning and threaten high-leverage national assets serving thousands of researchers annually across pharma, manufacturing, energy, and defence sectors.
Key findings
- Early 2026 budget cuts have cancelled or deferred major physics infrastructure projects including UK participation in CERN's Large Hadron Collider upgrades and the US Electron-Ion Collider.
- Further cuts to ISIS Neutron and Muon Source and Diamond Light Source are expected through STFC prioritisation; these open-access national labs serve thousands of researchers annually with outputs spanning pharmaceuticals, manufacturing, energy, net-zero, and national security.
- Funding instability is driving early-career researchers abroad; withdrawal from international collaborations risks diminishing UK researchers' access to world-leading facilities and reducing returns on existing investments.
- The UK's 18% leadership role in CERN's LHCb Upgrade II (deprioritised) has destabilised European partner countries and created a funding vacuum; cancellation risks irreversible loss of scientific leadership.
- IOP reports ongoing confusion and lack of transparency about the total scale of savings required by end of spending review period, raising accountability concerns.
Tone
CriticalTopics
Key actors
Institute of Physics, Tom Grinyer, Public Accounts Committee, Sir Geoffrey Clifton-Brown, National Audit Office, Science and Technology Facilities Council, CERN, ISIS Neutron and Muon Source, Diamond Light Source
Notable line
“Allowing their capability to decline due to short-term funding pressures would risk irreversible damage to the UK's research base and economic potential.”
Key Quotes
“Physics is intrinsically international: many of the most important discoveries – such as those at CERN – depend on shared facilities that no single country can fund alone.”
“ISIS and Diamond operate as open-access, national laboratories serving thousands of researchers from universities, industry, and government each year.”
“Recent cancellations of infrastructure already in development risk compounding this problem, as public funds invested to date may fail to deliver their intended scientific or economic benefits.”
“… the UK contingent has been the technical engine of the experiment, representing more than 18 per cent of a global collaboration of 1,800 researchers.”
“Withdrawing from Upgrade II, has not only created a risk of the UK becoming a sidelined observer in a field it once defined, it has also destabilised partner countries across Europe and caused a funding vacuum.”
“Over the course of the past week, we have sought clarity about the extent of the savings that are required, and we are still waiting for confirmation about the total amount of savings needed by the end of the spending review period.”
Source · parliament.uk record ↗