Professor Sir Ian Chapman, Chief Executive, UKRI
Professor Michele Dougherty, Executive Chair, STFC
Professor Charlotte Dean, Executive Chair, EPSRC
Professor Anne Ferguson-Smith, Executive Chair, BBSRC
Professor Louise Heathwaite, Executive Chair, NERC
Professor Patrick Chinnery, Executive Chair, MRC
Dear Professors Chapman, Dougherty, Dean, Ferguson-Smith, Heathwaite and Chinnery,
As users of the Lasers for Science Facility (LSF), which is part of the Central Laser Facility (CLF), we write to express our deep concern about recent decisions made by STFC that will adversely impact world-leading research of national and international importance. This research aligns strongly with UKRI priority areas, and is currently sponsored by STFC, EPSRC, BBSRC, NERC and MRC, as well as by industrial, charitable and other non-Research Council funders.
While we understand that STFC faces very difficult decisions as it seeks to make significant cost savings, the impacts of the recently announced cuts fall disproportionality on the multi-disciplinary user facilities (MDFs) and will severely compromise the world-class research these facilities enable. The consequences for UKRI-funded research and its contributions to UK national priorities will be profoundly damaging, as highlighted in recent open letters to the Executive Chair of STFC and the Chief Executive of UKRI. These letters have attracted widespread support from a cross-disciplinary community of MDF users dismayed by the STFC’s choices. Two of the facilities located at the STFC Rutherford Appleton Laboratory have been singled out for closure if they cannot switch to an alternative model for funding within a 2027-2028 two-stage Gateway process. These facilities are the ISIS Muon Spectroscopy beamlines and the Lasers for Science Facility. Not only is this timescale unreasonably short for these facilities to put in place sustainable funding streams from other partners and funding agencies, but even the risk of closure threatens their ability to attract the new investment that will be needed to maintain world-leading research of strategic benefit to the UK.
The LSF is a tremendous success story for UK science, operating with a modest annual budget of only £4.2M that represents extraordinary value for money. It currently offers three world-class facilities to the user community through a free-at-the-point-of-use model. To ensure the highest quality of research, access is prioritized by expert peer-review panels with membership drawn from leading figures in the UK and international research communities. Demand for access significantly exceeds the facility capacity. The three constituent facilities are Octopus (laser-based, super-resolution microscopy for bio-imaging); Ultra (time-resolved spectroscopy over femtosecond to millisecond timescales); and Artemis (imaging and spectroscopy with extreme ultraviolet laser light). The ongoing £17.2M HiLUX project is implementing upgrades to Ultra and Artemis that will offer state-of-the-art new facilities that are unmatched nationally and internationally. The globally unique capabilities of HiLUX will place UK researchers at the international forefront in UKRI priority research and technology areas that include Clean Growth and Energy, Quantum Technologies, Life Sciences, Engineering Biology, Artificial Intelligence, and Discovery Science. These opportunities will be squandered, and the HiLUX investment wasted, if the LSF is forced to close.
To highlight the damage that closure of the LSF will cause, we ask you to consider a case, based on evidence of exceptional performance, for why this vital multidisciplinary facility should continue to be supported by STFC and UKRI. The data presented below have been collected from public-domain sources, and through our survey of the LSF user community conducted at short notice after the unexpected prioritization announcement (please see the appendix to this letter). Further data summaries, graphical representations, and illustrative case studies are publicly available at the LSF website.
In the past decade, the LSF has provided essential support for research across 156 global institutions, 76 of which are in the UK. LSF research contributes to approximately 50 publications each year in peer-reviewed international journals. Since 2008, these papers have attracted more than 25,500 citations and 47% were published in Clarivate Quartile 1 journals.
Of the 56 survey responses received, 80% of respondents affirmed that their LSF access was supported by an existing grant (mostly from UKRI) or by industry funding, and 64% had used LSF-research to secure follow-on funding amounting to more than £60M in value from UKRI, ERC, industry, and other sources. LSF users hold research grants awarded from across the UKRI portfolio; over the past 5 years, these amount to more than 80 grants with a total value exceeding £110M. This UKRI-funded and LSF-supported research spans Chemistry, Physics, Biology, Materials Science, Biomaterials, Medicine, Engineering, Energy, Environmental Sciences, and development of new technologies. Importantly, LSF access also fosters the next generations of UK research talent in these disciplines. More than 375 UK-based early career researchers (postdoctoral researchers and postgraduate students) have benefited directly from LSF access.
In free-text responses, the survey respondents highlighted the world-leading capabilities of the LSF, its technological innovations, its broad scientific reach, its key role in the career development of ECRs, the expertise of the facility staff, and the cost-effectiveness to the UK of the shared infrastructure.
The benefits of the LSF are also economic and strategic. For example, the LSF spinout company Cobalt Light Systems was acquired by Agilent for £40M. Because of the benefits of co-location with the LSF and its staff, Agilent subsequently opened its flagship Spectrum Building on the Harwell Campus in 2019 to house its Raman spectroscopy business and its Laser Spectroscopy Center of Excellence. The methodology at the heart of Agilent’s line of commercial Raman spectrometers was developed in the LSF and finds applications as diverse as in the pharmaceutical industry, food quality, airport security, and cultural heritage.
We firmly believe that there is a compelling case for STFC to continue its support of the LSF and its flagship HiLUX project. It provides a service to the UK research community of strategic and scientific benefit that is a model for efficient use of shared resources and the envy of researchers worldwide. Representatives of the LSF user community would welcome a meeting with you to discuss these matters in more detail.
Yours Sincerely
Andrew Orr-Ewing FRS, Leverhulme Chair of Physical Chemistry, University of Bristol, UK
Tom Oliver, Professor of Chemistry, University of Bristol, UK
Appendix: LSF User Survey outcomes
Data were collected using a survey sent to users of Octopus, Ultra and Artemis on 17 July 2026. The survey closed on 21 July 2026 and received 56 responses.
| UKRI delivery plan priority areas | Number of aligned LSF projects |
|---|---|
| Discovery and Curiosity Driven Research | 49 |
| Life Sciences | 29 |
| Clean Growth and Energy | 24 |
| Engineering Biology | 14 |
| Quantum Technologies | 10 |
| Artificial Intelligence | 5 |
| Funder | Number of LSF projects | Follow-on funding enabled by LSF research# / £M |
|---|---|---|
| EPSRC | 28 | 28.4 |
| BBSRC | 11 | 6.6 |
| STFC | 11 | 0.8 |
| NERC | 1 | none declared |
| MRC | 3 | none declared |
| Unspecified UKRI funder | – | 5.0 |
| ERC and other European funders | 9 | 18.6 |
| Cancer Research UK | 3 | 0.5 |
| The Leverhulme Trust | 8 | 1.6 |
| The Royal Society | 6 | 0.5 |
| Wellcome Trust | 2 | none declared |
| Industry | 7 | 0.8 |
| Other (including international) | 10 |
#Not all survey respondents provided numerical values for follow-on funding.