Professor Sir Ian Chapman, Chief Executive, UKRI
Professor Michele Dougherty, Executive Chair, STFC
Professor Charlotte Deane, 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, Deane, Ferguson-Smith, Heathwaite and Chinnery,
As users and beneficiaries 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
Verena Kriechbaumer, Professor, Oxford Brookes University, United Kingdom
Khezar Saeed, Assistant Professor, Aarhus University, Denmark
Ryan Pink, Professor of Genomics and Innovation, Oxford Brookes University, United Kingdom
Chang Guo, Scientist, UKHSA, UK
Laura Spagnolo, Professor of Biophysical Chemistry, University of Glasgow, United Kingdom
Zoe Pikramenou, Professor of Inorganic Chemistry and Photophysics, University of Birmingham, UK
Francesco Luigi Gervasio, Professor, University College London (UCL), UK
Hicham Idriss, Prof. Hon., UCL, UK
Henrike Müller-Werkmeister, Professor in Physical Chemistry, Uni Potsdam, Germany
Anne Straube, Professor, University of Warwick, UK
Philip Hofmann, Professor of Physics, Department of Physics and Astronomy, Aarhus University, Denmark
Jens Bredenbeck, Professor, Goethe Universität, Germany
Julia Stähler, Full Professoe, Humboldt-Universtät zu Berlin, Germany
Patrick Robertson, Assistant Professor of Physical Chemistry, University of Nottingham, United Kingdom
Giovanni Bressan, Leverhulme Early Career Fellow, University of East Anglia, United Kingdom
Artem Bakulin, Associate professor, Imperial College London, UK
Jon Marangos, Lockyer Chair in Physics, Imperial College, U.K.
Russell Minns, Professor of Chemistry, University of Southampton, UK
Martin Peeks, A/Prof, School of Chemistry, University of New South Wales, Australia
Megan Poole, PhD Student, Royal Holloway, University of London, United Kingdom
Michael Parkes, Senior Research Fellow, University College London, UK
Phil King, Professor of Physics, University of St Andrews, UK
Varinder Aggarwal, Professor, University of Bristol, UK
Thomas Elsaesser, Director emeritus, Max Born Institute for Nonlinear Optics and Short-Pulse Spectroscopy, Berlin, Germany
Hallam Greene, PhD Student, University of Bristol, United Kingdom
Leticia Gonzalez, Professor, University of Vienna, Austria
Imogen Sparkes, Senior lecturer, University of Bristol, UK
Simon Kondrat, Senior lecturer, Loughborough university, Uk
Alex Jones, Principal Scientist, NPL; Honorary Professor, UCL, NPL / UCL, UK
Christian Pfrang, Professor of Atmospheric Science, University of Birmingham, United Kingdom
Tracey Clarke, Associate Professor, University College London, United Kingdom
Eleanor Windle, Postdoctoral Researcher, University College Dublin, Ireland
Sophia C. Hayes, Associate Professor, University of Cyprus, Cyprus
Jonathan Keeling, Head of School of Physics and Astronomy, University of St Andrews, United Kingdom
Andrew McMahon, Post doctoral research associate, University of Warwick, University of Warwick
Glenn Burley, Professor of Chemical Biology, University of Strathclyde, United Kingdom
Antonija Grubisic-Cabo, Assistant Professor, University of Groningen, Netherlands
Laurence Hardwick, Professor, University of Liverpool, United Kingdom
Kevin O’Keeffe, Senior Lecturer, Swansea University, United Kingdom
Claire Vallance, Professor of Physical Chemistry, University of Oxford, UK
Beatrice Jones, EPSRC Doctoral Prize Fellow, University of Cambridge, United Kingdom
Susan Quinn, Professor of Chemistry, University College Dublin, Ireland
Helen Fielding, Thomas Graham Professor of Chemistry, University College London, UK
Robert Edkins, Senior Lecturer in Chemistry, University of Strathclyde, UK
Dan Mulvihill, Professor of Cell and Molecular Biology, University of Kent, United Kingdom
Uwe Bovensiepen, Professor, University of Duisburg-Essen, Germany
Michael George, Professor of Chemistry, University of Nottingham, UK
Allan Johnson, Research Professor, IMDEA Nanoscience, Spain
Romain Geneaux, Group leader, CEA Paris-Saclay, France
Samuel Beaulieu, Researcher, CNRS, France
Stephen Meech, Prof. of Physical Chemistry, University of East Anglia, UK
Thomas La Cour Jansen, Professor, University of Groningen, The Netherlands
Martin Weinelt, Professor of Physics, Freie Universität Berlin, Germany
Anam Fatima, Post-Doctoral Researcher, University of East Anglia, UK
Pieter Neethling, Associate Professor, Stellenbosch Photonics Institute, Stellenbosch University, South Africa
Klaas Wynne, Chair of Chemical Physics, University of Glasgow, UK
Michael Ward, Chair of Faculty of Science, Engineering and Medicine, University of Warwick, UK
Ioannis Liontos, Senior postdoctoral researcher, FORTH-IESL, Greece
Garth Jones, Associate Professor of Theoretical Chemistry, University of East Anglia, United Kingdom
Nigel Woolsey, Professor, University of York, UK
Joseph Wright, Senior Lecturer in Energy Materials, University of East Anglia, United Kingdom
Deborin Ghosh, Senior Research Associate, University of Bristol, United Kingdom
James Bull, Associate Professor in Ultrafast Chemical Physics, University of East Anglia, United Kingdom
Enrico Da Como, Associate Professor, University of Bath, United Kingdom
Daniel Graczyk, PhD Candidate, School of Chemistry, University College Dublin, Ireland
Eric Vauthey, Professor, University of Geneva, Switzerland
Claire Grierson, Professor, University of Bristol, United Kingdom
Naina Kushwaha, PhD student, University of St-Andrews, United Kingdom
Jan Petter Hansen, Professor, University of Bergen, Norway
Ettore Carpene, Researcher, CNR-IFN, Italy
David Scott, Associate Professor and Reader, University of Nottingham, UK
Michael Ashfold, Emeritus Professor, University of Bristol, U.K.
Ian Eperon, Professor of Biochemistry, University of Leicester, UK
Pascal SALIERES, Head of ATTOphysics Group, CEA Paris-Saclay, FRANCE
Colin Bain, Professor of Chemistry, Durham University, UK
Anthony Harriman, Professor Emeritus, Newcastle University, United Kingdom
Christian Brahms, Associate Professor, Heriot-Watt University, United Kingdom
Philipp Kukura, Professor of Chemistry, University of Oxford, United Kingdom
Sigrun Lange, Professor of Molecular Pathobiology, University of Westminster, UK
Andras Lukacs, Full professor, Department of Biophysics, Medical School, University of Pecs, Hungary, Hungary
Majed Chergui, Emeritus Professor, EPF-Lausanne and Elettra Sincrotrone Trieste, Switzerland and Italy
Jonathan Coulter, Professor of Pharmaceutical Nanoscience, Queen’s University Belfast, Northern Ireland
Martin King, Professor, Royal Holloway University of London, UK
Benjamin Dietzek-Ivansic, Professor and Scientific Director, Leibniz Institute of Surface Engineering, Germany
Mischa Bonn, Max Planck Director, Professor, Max Planck Institute for Polymer Research, Germany
Andrew A. Pitsillides, PhD BSc Pitsillides, PhD BSc, Professor, Royal veterinary College, UK
Sangeeta Sharma, Prof, FU- Berlin, Germany
Derek Wann, Head of Department of Chemistry, University of York, UK
Sofia Pascu, Professor, University of Bath, United Kingdom
Sudipta Maiti, Senior Professor, BITS-Piani Hyderabad, India
Peter Voehringer, Professor, University of Bonn, Germany
Dimitri Chekulaev, Instrument Scientist, University of Sheffield, UK
Neil Allan, Professor of Physical Chemistry, University of Bristol, UK
Andrew McCluskey, Senior Lecturer, University of Bristol, United Kingdom
Matthew Jessop, Senior Scientific Officer, The Institute of Cancer Research, UK
Marten Vos, Emeritus research director, Ecole Polytechnique, France
Mary Pryce, Professor of Chemistry, Dublin City University, Ireland
Christine Cardin, Professor of Crystallography, Department of Chemistry, University of Reading, United Kingdom
Nik Reeves-McLaren, Senior Lecturer, University of Sheffield, UK
Duncan Bruce, Professor of Materials Chemistry, University of York, UK
Gurthwin Bosman, Senior Lecturer, Stellenbosch Photonics Institute, Stellenbosch University, South Africa
Hamish Yeung, Associate Professor of Materials Chemistry, University of Birmingham, UK
Ralph Ernstorfer, Prof., Technical University Berlin, Germany
Jim Thomas, Prof of Bio-inorganic Chemistry, University of Sheffield, UK
luca perfetti, professor, Ecole Polytechnique, France
Marius Horch, Research Group Leader, Freie Universität Berlin, Germany
Oliver Alexander, Research Associate, Imperial College London, United Kingdom
Sarah Berger, Research Assistant, University of Glasgow, United Kingdom
Gesa Siemann, Postdoc, Aarhus University, Denmark
Robin Perutz FRS, Emeritus Professor of Chemistry, former user of LSF and Chair of LSF Panel, University of York, UK
Jan Lüning, Professor, Humboldt-Universität zu Berlin, Germany
Joanne Woodhouse, Postdoctoral Researcher, Max Born Institute, Germany
River Riley, Associate Professor of Chemistry (Teaching), UCL, UK
Toby Whitfield, PhD Student, University College London, UK
Vas Stavros, Professor of Physical Chemistry, University of Birmingham, UK
Nathaniel Hill, PhD Student, University of Liverpool, United Kingdom
Mariya Hristova, Principal Research Fellow, Universtity College London, UK
Laszlo Veisz, Professor of Physics, Umea University, Sweden
Aaron Gulotta, PhD Student, University of Southampton, United Kingdom
Marina Kuimova, Professor of Chemical Physics, Imperial College London, UK
Chris Toseland, Professor, University of Sheffield, UK
James Blake, Student of Chemistry, University of Southampton, Uk
Eleanor Keil, PGR, The University of Southampton, United Kingdom
Leon Mutter, PGR, University of Southampton, UK
Graham Worth, Professor of Computational Chemistry, University College London, UK
Eugen Stulz, Professor in Medicinal Chemistry, University of Southampton, UK
Colin Seaton, Associate Professor in Crystal Engineering, University of Bradford, UK
John Tisch, Professor, Imperial College London, UK
Hugo Marroux, Researcher, CEA, France
Matthew Bucknell, Undergraduate Chemistry Student, University of Southampton, United Kingdom
Sebastian Buchberger, Postdoctoral Researcher, University of St Andrews, United Kingdom
Joshaniel Cooper, Instrument Scientist, European Spallation Source, Sweden
Stefan Mattauch, Department head of JCNS instrument operation at MLZ, Forschungszentrum Jülich GmbH, Germany
Albert Stolow, Professor and Canada Research Chair, University of Ottawa, Canada
David Chisholm, Head of Technology, LightOx Ltd., United Kingdom
Michele Puppin, Staff Scientist, EPFL, Ecole Polytechnique Federale de Lausanne, Switzerland
Jack Woolley, Platform Manager, University of Warwick, United Kingdom
Larissa Gomes Franca, Research Fellow, University of Cambridge, United Kingdom
Kunal Kothekar, Physicist & Sr. FPGA Engineer, CesiumAstro UK, United Kingdom
Daniil Kazantsev, Senior software scientist, Diamond Light Source, United Kingdom
Minhaeng Cho, Director, IBS Center for Molecular Spectroscopy and Dynamics, Republic of Korea
Konstantin Ignatyev, Principal Beamline Scientist, Diamond Light Source, UK
Min-Hsien Kao, Senior Research Associate, University of Bristol, United Kingdom
Edward Stuckey, Postdoctoral Resesrcher, Uppsala University, Sweden
Natercia Rodrigues, Research Fellow, Instituto Superior Técnico, University of Lisbon, Portugal
Renee Frontiera, Professor, University of Minnesota, USA
Patrick Loftus, PhD Candidate, Dublin City University, Republic of Ireland
Rachel Evans, Professor of Materials Chemistry, University of Cambridge, United Kingdom
Olga Shebanova, Seniour Support Scientist, Diamond Light Source Ltd, UK
Iain Wilkinson, Research Group Leader, Helmholtz-Zentrum Berlin für Materiailien und Energie, Germany
Ian Fairlamb, Professor in Chemistry, University of York, United Kingdom
Iris Nandhakumar, Professor, University of Southampton, UK
Julia Weinstein, Professor of physical chemistry, University of Sheffield, UK
Tahei Tahara, Chief Scientist, RIKEN, Japan
Vijayakumar P Rajamanickam, Marie-Curie Seal of Excellence Holder, University of Bristol, United Kingdom
Lothar Schermelleh, Professor of Bioimaging, University of Oxford, United Kingdom
Mahima Sneha, Assistant Professor, Dartmouth College, United States of America
Ellen Backus, Professor, University of Vienna, Austria
Ellie Fletcher, PhD student, University of Bristol, UK
Marco Bianchi, First Researcher, SuperESCA beamline, Elettra-Sincrotrone Trieste S.C.p.A., Italy
James Shipp, Postdoctoral Research Associate, University of Pittsburgh, United States / United Kingdom
Peter Tonge, Distinguished Professor of Chemistry, Stony Brook University, USA
Pauæina Majchrzak, Stanford Energy Postdoctoral Fellow, Stanford University, United States
Chris Sparling, EPSRC Doctoral Prize Fellow, Institute of Photonics and Quantum Sciences, United Kingdom
Akhil Rajan, Research Fellow, University of St Andrews, UK
Alex Neale, UKRI Future Leaders Fellow and Lecturer, University of Liverpool, UK
Laurenz Rettig, Professor, RPTU University Kaiserslautern-Landau, Germany
Basile Curchod, Professor of Theoretical Chemistry, University of Bristol, UK
alessia candeo, Associate professor, Politecnico di Milano, Italy
Sagie Katz, Researcher, Technical university Berlin (TU-Berlin), Germany
Adam Noble, Senior Lecturer, University of Bristol, UK
Daniel Neumark, Melvin Calvin Distinguished Professor of Chemistry, University of California, Berkeley, USA
Soumyamoy Pathak, PhD Student, Freie Universität Berlin, Germany
Yurii Gun’ko, Professor of Chemistry, Trinity College Dublin, Ireland
Matthew Partridge, Senior Enterprise Fellow, University of Southampton, England
Marguerite Blignaut, Researcher, associate of the Biomedical Research Institute, Stellenbosch University, South Africa
Lars Lauterbach, Professor, RWTH Aachen University, Germany
Denise Poire, PHD STUDENT, Technical University Berlin, Argentina
Holger Dobbek, Principal Investigator, Humboldt-Universität zu Berlin, Germany
Louis Jakobson, PhD student, University of Bristol, United Kingdom
Matthew Hall, PhD Student, University of Bristol, United Kingdom
Willem Boutu, Director of LIDYL, CEA Paris Saclay, France
Ludovic Troian-Gautier, Professor, UCLouvain, Belgium
Wei Xiong, Professor, University of California, San Diego, United States
Cornelius Bernitzky, PhD Student, FU Berlin, Germany
Richard Strasser, Assoc. Prof., BOKU University Vienna, Austria
Alexandra Stuart, Postdoctoral research associate, The University of Bristol, United Kingdom
Kate Robertson, Postdoctorate researcher, CEA, France
Nien-Hui Ge, Professor of Chemistry, University of California, Irvine, USA
Kevin Kubarych, Professor, University of Ottawa, Canada
Martin Volk, Honorary Reader, University of Liverpool, UK
Thukshan Samarakoon, Postdoctoral Research Associate, University of Liverpool, UK
Kai Rossnagel, Professor of Physics, Kiel University / DESY, Germany
Milan Delor, Associate Professor, Columbia University, United States
Thomas Allison, Professor, Stony Brook University, USA
David Bacon, Laser Facility Manager, UCL Chemistry, UK
Sofia Kapetanaki, Researcher, MAX IV Laboratory, Sweden
Samuel Arrowsmith, PhD Student, University of Bristol, UK
Nida Shahbax, PhD student, University of St Andrews, Uak
Malin Khalil, PhD student, Freie Universität Berlin, Germany
Ting An Lee, Postdoctoral Research Associate, University of Oxford, United Kingdom
Victoria Taylor, Postdoctoral Researcher, Fritz Haber Institute, Berlin, Germany
Peter Hamm, Professor, Department of Chemistry, University of Zurich, Switzerland
Andrea Damascelli, Professor, University of British Columbia, Canada
Mark Cragg, Professor of Experimental Cancer Biology, University of Southampton, UK
Anna Bogush, Associate Professor, Coventry University, United Kingdom
Paraic Keane, Clinical Biochemist, St. Vincent’s University Hospital, Dublin, Ireland
Peter D Lee, Professor, UCL, UK
Sanjoy Patra, Postdoctoral Research Associate, University of Bristol, United Kingdom
Allison Stelling, Adjunct Professor, Department of Chemistry and Biochemistry, University of Texas at Arlington, USA
Jordan Mulvaney, PhD Student, University College Dublin, Ireland
Matthew Bain, Staff Scientists, SLAC National Accelerator Laboratory, USA
Louis DiMauro, Professor, The Ohio State University, United States
Jacob Kleboe, PhD Student, University of Southampton, United Kingdom
Yasuhisa Mizutani, Professor, The University of Osaka, Japan
Filipe Braga, Staff scientist, Shinshu University, Japan
Hideaki Ogata, Professor, Graduate School of Science, University of Hyogo, Japan
Bern Kohler, Professor of Chemistry and Biochemistry, Ohio Eminent Scholar, The Ohio State University, USA
David Osborn, Adjunct Professor of Chemical Engineering, University of California, Davis, United States of America
Gourab Chatterjee, Scientist, Linac Coherent Light Source (LCLS), SLAC National Accelerator Laboratory, USA
Rhea Kumar, Postdoctoral researcher, Politecnico di Milano, Italy
Elizaveta Kobeleva, PhD student, Free University Berlin, Germany
Angel Cuesta Ciscar, Personal Chair/Full professor, University of Aberdeen, United Kingdom
Takashi Lawson, EPSRC Postdoctoral Research Fellow, University of Cambridge, UK
Cate Anstöter, Lecturer in physical chemistry, University of Glasgow, Scotland
Caleb Jordan, Senior Research Associate, University of Bristol, United Kingdom
Bruno Kenichi Saika, Post-doctoral researcher, University of St Andrews., United Kingdom
Benjamin Elias, Full Professor, UCLouvain, Belgium
Joe Davies, PhD Student, University of Warwick, United Kingdom
Lorenzo Frigerio, Professor, University of Warwick, UK
Francis Pope, Professor of Atmospheric Science, University of Birmingham, UK
Dave Townsend, Professor of Physics, Heriot-Watt University, United Kingdom
Stefan Haessler, Research Scientist, CNRS, LOA, France
Katharine Reid, Professor of Chemical Physics, University of Nottingham, UK
Sergey Borisenko, Group Leader, IFW-Dresden, Germany
Antonin Vlcek, Professor of inorganic chemistry, emeritus, Queen Mary University of London, UK
Martin Pizl, Assistant professor, University of Chemistry and Technology Prague, Czech republic
Mugerabe Zerabza, PhD Student, University of Bath, United Kingdom
Adrian Gardner, Facility Manager, Early Career Laser Laboratory, University of Liverpool, UK
Pengwei Wang, Professor, Huazhong Agricultural University, China
Natali Fili, Senior Lecturer, University of Lincoln, UK
Jyotishman Dasgupta, Professor (H), Tata Institute of Fundamental Research, Mumbai, INDIA
Rebecca Ingle, Associate Professor, University College London, United Kingdom
Chu Lun Alex Leung, Associate Professor in Advanced Manufacturing, University College London, United Kingdom
Connor Barker, Research Fellow, University College London, United Kingdom
Jason Lynam, Professor of Inorganic Chemistry, University of York, UK
Rhys Mould, Research Fellow, University of Westminster, United Kingom
Ross Anderson, PhD Student, Heriot-Watt University, United Kingdom
Markus Frey, Deputy Science Leader Atmosphere, Ice and Climate, British Antarctic Survey, United Kingdom
Maciej Dendzik, Researcher, KTH, Sweden
Rebecca Milot, Associate Professor, University of Warwick, UK
Russell Howe, Emeritus Professor of Materials Chemistry, University of Aberdeen, United Kingdom
Carlos Baiz, Associate Professor, University of Texas at Austin, United States
Pedro Silva, Master Student, GreenUPorto, INOV4AGRO, Faculty of Sciences, University of Porto, Portugal
Felix Castellano, Goodnight Innovation Distinguished Chair and Professor, North Carolina State University, USA
Franck LEPINE, Research Director, CNRS Lyon, FRANCE
Debkumar Rana, Postdoctoral Fellow, Max Born Institute for Nonlinear Optics & Short Pulse Spectroscopy, Germany
Lou Barreau, Assistant Professor, Université Paris-Saclay, France
Nicolas Gauthier, Research associate, Institut National de la Recherche Scientifique, Canada
Viktor Zarsky, Professor of plant biology, Charles University, Faculty of Science, Czech republic
Ruby Newman, Chemistry Undergraduate, University of Southampton, UK
Christopher Ridgers, Professor, University of York, UK
Tak Kee, Associate Professor, Adelaide University, Australia
Reem Alraddadi, Researcher, University of York, UK
Roger Bisby, Emeritus Professor, University of Salford, UK
Jerome Kasparian, Professor, University of Geneva, Switzerland
Charles Sayers, Postdoctoral Researcher, Politecnico di Milano, Italy
Chiara Trovatello, Assistant Professor of Physics, Politecnico di Milano, Italy
Kai Chen, Senior Scientist, Victoria Univeristy of Wellington, New Zealand
Rajeev Pattathil, Adjunct Professor of Physics, Tata Institute of Fundamental Research, India
Giulio Cerullo, Full Professor, Politecnico di Milano, Italy
Sever Dragomir, PhD Student, Imperial College London, United Kingdom
Oleg Dogadov, Postdoctoral Researcher, Fritz Haber Institute, Germany
Sam Hay, Professor of Biophysical Chemistry, University of Manchester, UK
Alexander Cowan, Professor of Chemistry, University of Liverpool, UK
Frantisek Hartl, Professor of Inorganic Chemistry (Emeritus), University of Reading, United Kingdom
Inés Lezcano González, Dame Kathleen Ollerenshaw Fellow and Harwell Fellow, The University of Manchester, United Kingdom
Michael Quin, Postdoc, Gothenburg University, Sweden
Shu Mo, PhD Student, University of St Andrews, UK
M. Asuncion Molina Esquinas, Postdoctoral Research Associate, Diamond Light Source, UK
Andrew Higginbotham, Senior Lecturer, University of York, UK
Karol Hricovini, Professor emeritus, Cy Cergy Paris University and CEA Saclay, France
Ottavio Croze, Lecturer, Newcastle University, UK
Marco Marcello, Facility Manager, University of Liverpool, United Kingdom
Alex Payne-Dwyer, Senior Technical Specialist, University of York, UK
Anne L’Huillier, Professor, Lund University, Sweden
Katharina Kreissig, Laboratory Manager, Imperial College London, UK
Mads Gabrielsen Gabrielsen, Technical Lead, University of Glasgow, United Kingdom
Nicholas Stone, Professor of Biomedical Imaging and Biosensing, University of Exeter, UK
Jorge Bernardino de la Serna, Associate Professor, Imperial College London, United Kingdom
Barbara Procacci, Research Fellow, The University of York, UK
Sarah Irons, Enterprise Centre & Bioinnovation Hub manager, Oxford Brookes University, UK
Yin Hoon Chew, Assistant Professor, University of Birmingham, United Kingdom
Marco G. Mazza, Senior Lecturer, Loughborough University, United Kingdom
Benjamin Gardner, Lecturer in Physics, University of Exeter, UK
Nikita Nemkov, Research Scientist, Russian Quantum Center, Russia
Akash Sivananthan, PhD student, University College London, UK
Adrian Hartley, Professor, University of Aberdeen, UK
Marie Held, Image Analyst in a Shared Research Facility, University of Liverpool, UK
Paul Newton, Professor of Tropical Medicine, University of Oxford, UK
Meiyue Liu, PhD student, University of Bristol, United Kingdom
Tomas Martin, Associate Professor, University of Bristol, United Kingdom
Giovanni Pesce, Associate Professor, Northumbria University, United Kingdom
Jacob Jones, PhD Student, University of Bristol, UK
Philip R Davies Davies, Professor of Physical Chemistry, Cardiff University, UK
Darrell Cobon, Senior Technician, University of Nottingham, UK
Virginia Silio, Research Technical Specialist- Imaging, University College London, UK
Christina Reinhard, Senior Technical Specialist, The University of Manchester, UK
Glyn Nelson, Light Microscopy Facility Manager, Newcastle University, UK
Dean Kavanagh, Associate Professor of Cardiovascular Science, Department of Cardiovascular Sciences, School of Medical Sciences, College of Medicine and Health, University of Birmingham, United Kingdom
Michael Flynn, Senior Technician (Mechanical), Heriot-Watt University, UK
Georgina Fletcher, Project Officer, BioImagingUK, UK
Rory Cooper, Research Fellow, University of Sheffield, United Kingdom
John Pasley, Reader, University of York, U.K.
Claudia Conti, Research Director, National Research Council of Italy (CNR), Italy
Christian Eggeling, Professor of Superresolution Microscopy and Director Institute of Applied Optics and Biophysics, Leibniz Institute of Photonic Technologies e.V. & Friedrich-Schiller University Jena, Germany
Alberto Lux, Research Engineer, ICGM, France
Chiara Colombo, Senior Researcher and Coordinator of the CNR-ISPC Secondary Site in Milan, CNR, Italy
Renzo Vanna, Principal Investigator, Consiglio Nazionale delle Ricerche - Institute for Photonics and Nanotechnology, Italy
Darren Batey, Principal Scientist, Diamond Light Source, UK
Elena Possenti, Senior researcher, National Research Council CNR - ISPC, Italy
Chris Middleton, Vice President & Chief Technology Officer, PhaseTech Spectroscopy, Inc., United States
Bill Brocklesby, Emeritus Fellow in Photonics, University of Southampton, UK
Felix Allum, Humboldt Research Fellow, Deutsches-Elektronen Synchrotron, Germany
Kees Straatman, Facility Manager, University of Leicester, UK
AVINASH C SHARMA, EMERITUS PROFESSOR, SOUTH ASIAN UNIVERSITY, INDIA
Michael Deeks, Senior Lecturer, University of Exeter, UK
Jessy Silva, Postdoctoral researcher, University of Porto, Portugal
Sandie Dann, Professor of Materials Chemistry, Loughborough University, uk
Sean Garrett-Roe, Associate Professor, University of Pittsburgh, USA
Bogdan Dereka, Assistant Professor, Department of Chemistry, University of Zurich, Switzerland
Ryan Phelps, Facility Scientist/Early career researcher, UKRI, United Kingdom
Karl Michael Ziems, Lecturer in Computational Chemistry, University of Southampton, United Kingdom
Dr. Nicholas Martin, Retired, Rett, United Kingdom
Mathesh Vaithiyanathan, PhD student, Freie Universität Berlin, Germany
Antonio Sansonetti, Senior Researcher, Institute for Heritage Science - National Research Council, Italy
Jitka Ortmannova, postdoc, IEB AS CR, Czech Republic
Dr. Girija Perumal, Professor, Annamalai university, India
Francesca Palombo, Head of Department of Physics / Professor of Biomedical Spectroscopy, University of Exeter, UK
John Kelly, Professor Emeritus, Trinity College Dublin, Ireland
Luis ROSO, Full Prof, Universidad de Salamanca, SPAIN
Christine Richter, Professor of Physics, CY Cergy Paris University, France
Harry Richardson, PhD student, University of Bristol, Uk
Magdalena Ulmeanu-Stanton, Applications Engineer, Oxford Instruments Plasma Technology, UK
Elizabeth Gibson, Professor of Energy Materials, Newcastle University, United Kingdom
Yoshiko Nanao, Post-doc researcher, University of St Andrews, UK
Reena Al-Mualem, Scientist, PhaseTech Spectroscopy, Inc., USA
Ben Sutcliffe, Microscopy Specialist, University of Cambridge, United Kingdom
Alan Marron, Light Microscopy Specialist, Oxford Brookes Centre for BioImaging, UK
Michael Cotterell, Associate Professor of Chemistry, University of Oxford, United Kingdom
James Pickering, Lecturer in Physical Chemistry, University of Leicester, United Kingdom
Alexander Tarnovsky, Professor of Chemistry, Bowling Green State University, USA
Ger Doorley, Postdoc, Formerly Trinity College Dublin, USA
Céline Caillet, Deputy Head of the Medicine Quality Research Group, University of Oxford, United Kingdom
Amy Edmeades, PhD student, Cardiff University, UK
Derri Hughes, PhD Researcher, University of Southampton, UK
Giulia Giubertoni, Research Fellow, University of Amsterdam, The Netherlands
Kasra Amini, ERC Starting Grant group leader, Max-Born-Institut, Germany
Ethan Cunningham, Na, Na, United Kingdom
David Heathcote, Postdoctoral researcher, University of Oxford, United Kingdom
Eladio Prieto Zamudio, Research fellow, Unicersity of Southampton, United Kindom
Alexandre Soujaeff, Engineer, exail, France
Ignas Abromavičius, Sales Engineer, Light Conversion, Lithuania
Don Aborah, MSci Medicinal and Biological Chemistry, University of Nottingham, England
Tjalling De Boer, Sales Development Manager, Scientific & Instrumentation, Coherent Corp., Germany
Marcello Righetto, Assistant Professor, Università degli Studi di Padova, Italy
Yueting Sun, Associate Professor, UKRI Future Leaders Fellow, University of Birmingham, United Kingdom
James Birrell, Lecturer, University of Essex, UK
Ricardo Fernández-Terán, SNSF Ambizione fellow / Junior group leader, University of Geneva, Switzerland
Raj Pandya, Assistant Professor, University of Cambridge and University of Warwick, UK
Cephise CACHO, Science Group Leader, Diamond Light Source, UK
Sander Woutersen, professor, University of Amsterdam, The Netherlands
Ravi Kumar Venkatraman, Assistant Professor, SRM Institute of Science and Technology, India
Joelle Goulding, Senior Research Fellow, University of Nottingham, United Kingdom
Berta Martins, Research Assistant, Humboldt-Universität zu Belin, Germany
Thierry Ruchon, Research Director, CEA Saclay, France
Matthew Collier, Student, University of Southampton, United Kingdom
Marc Vrakking, Director, Max-Born Institute Berlin, Germany
Samuel Horsewill, PDRA, University of Bath, United Kingdom
Baichhabi Raj Yakami, Ultrafast Scientist, PhaseTech Spectroscopy, USA
Nathaniel Gallop, Postdoctoral Research Associate, Queen Mary University of London / Leibniz Institute for Solid-State and Materials Research Dresden, United Kingdom
Ajay Jha, Associate Investigator, Rosalind Franklin Institute, United Kingdom
D Chandrasekhar Kakarla, Adjunct Assistant Professor, National Sun Yat-sen University, Taiwan
Manuel Moliner, Professor, Instituto de Tecnologia Quimica (CSIC-UPV), Spain
Maddy Parsons, Professor of Cell Biology, King’s College London, UK
Mercedes Boronat, Scientific Researcher, Consejo Superior Investigaciones Científicas CSIC, Spain
Katharina Edkins, Professor, University of Strathclyde, United Kingdom
Abbie Madden, PhD student, University of Strathclyde, UK
Sebastian Gilbert, Image and Spatial Omics Computational Scientist, University of British Columbia, Canada
Tran Trung Luu, Associate Professor, The University of Hong Kong, Hong Kong
Lara Denninger, PhD student, Goethe Universität, Germany
Philip Ash, Lecturer in Chemistry, University of Leicester, UK
Nicholas Teanby, Professor, University of Bristol, UK
Luuk van Wilderen, Senior Researcher, Goethe University Frankfurt, Germany
Sergei Lepeshkevich, Leading Resercher, B.I. Stepanov Institute of Physics, National Academy of Sciences of Belarus, Belarus
Claude Monney, Professor of physics, University of Fribourg, Switzerland
Jens Biegert, Head of Research, ICFO - The Institute of Photonic Sciences, Spain
Matt Costen, Professor, Heriot-Watt University, United Kingdom
Javier Solis, Research Professor, Instituto de Optica-CSIC, Spain
Nuria Tapia Ruiz, Associate Professor, Imperial College London, United Kingdom
Tom Penfold, Professor of Computational Chemistry, Newcastle University, United Kingdom
Arwen Jones, Student, University of Southampton, UK
Erik T.J. Nibbering, Department Head, Max Born Institute for Nonlinear Optics and Short Pulse Spectroscopy, Germany
Maryna Parkhats, Deputy head of the Center for Photonics and Photochemistry of Molecules, B.I. Stepanov Institute of Physics of the National Academy of Sciences of Belarus, Belarus
Brianna Heazlewood, Professor of Chemical Physics, University of Liverpool, UK
Nadav Amdursky, Professor of Biophysical Chemistry, University of Sheffield, UK
Alexander Park, PhD Student, University of Strathclyde, United Kingdom
James Durrant, Professor, Oxford University, United Kingdom
Anita Jones, Professor of Molecular Photophysics, University of Edinburgh, UK
Julia Lehman, Associate Professor, University of Birmingham, UK
Piyawat Amornthatri, Graduate Student, University of Southampton, Thailand
Stuart Greaves, Assistant Professor, Heriot-Watt University, UK
Max Waters, Postdoctoral researcher, Stanford University, United States of America
Stephen Bradforth, Professor of Chemistry, University of Southern California, United States
Matthew S. Robinson, Laser Beamline Scientist (Small Quantum Systems Instrument), European XFEL, Germany
James Lloyd-Hughes, Professor, University of Warwick, United Kingdom
Alec Coles, Research Associate, University of Bath, United Kingdom
Kenneth McKendrick, Professor of Physical Chemistry, Heriot-Watt University, UK
Jill Harrison, Professor, University of Bristol, UK
Igor Marković, Assistant Professor, University of Birmingham, UK
Ariel Alperstein, Assistant Professor, University of Delaware, United States
Michael Price, Research Fellow, University of Bristol, UK
Caroline Dessent, Professor of physical and analytical chemistry, University of York, Uk
Jessica Litman, Consultant, ZS Associates, Canada
zengchun xie, Postdoc, University College Dublin, Ireland
Anthony Parker, FRSC, Honorary Fellow STFC, Honorary Chairs University Stellenbosch, SA, and UCL, STFC, University of Stellenbosch, UCL, UK
Tommaso Pincelli, Researcher, Technische Universität Berlin, Germany
James Brown, Engineer, Hamamatsu Photonics, UK
Søren Ulstrup, Associate Professor, Aarhus University, Denmark
Mark Stitch, Reseacher, University college Dublin, Ireland
Alfred Jones, Beamline Scientist, ASTRID2 Synchrotron, Denmark
Josef Wachtveitl, Professor, Goethe University, Germany
Andrei Tokmakoff, Professor of Chemistry, University of Chicago, USA
Tobias Brixner, Professor of Chemistry and Physics, University of Würzburg, Germany
Tianquan (Tim) Lian, Professor, University of Pennsylvania, USA
Niels Damrauer, Professor, University of Colorado Boulder, USA
Aishwarya Girish Kumar, Optical Systems Design Engineer, Renishaw plc, United Kingdom
Anusha Seneviratne, Lecturer, Royal Holloway University of London, United Kingdom
Alexei Kananenka, Assistant Professor, University of Delaware, USA
Camilla Di Mino, Glasstone Research Fellow in Chemistry, University of Oxford, United Kingdom
Ciarán O’Brien, PhD student, University of Liverpool, UK
Patricia Rodriguez Macia, Lecturer/Asst Prof in Inorganic Chemistry, University of Leicester, Leicester
Christopher Peddie, Principal laboratory research scientist, The Francis Crick Institute, United Kingdom
Franco Camargo, Researcher, CNR-IFN, Italy
Amber Krummel, Professor of Chemistry and Assistant Vice President for Research Innovation, Colorado State University, United States
Eleanor Campbell, Professor emerita, University of Edinburgh, Scotland
Andrew Quigley, Group Leader, Life Sciences, United Kingdom
Karsten Heyne, Professor, Free University Berlin, Germany
Irene Mueller-Harvey, Professor emeritus, School of Agriculture, Policy and Development, University of Reading, UK
Rosa Romero, CEO, Sphere ultrafast photonics, Portugal
Alexander Butler, Postdoctoral Research Associate, University of Oxford, UK
Frederik Friis-Petersen, Undergraduate Student, Technical University of Denmark, Denmark
Cristina Martinez Gonzalez, Research Fellow, University of Edinburgh, UK
Colin Kirkbride, Research Fellow, University of Glasgow, UK
Thomas Romain, PhD Student, University of Bristol, UK
Ana Stuhec Kocijan, Research assistant, University of Cambridge, UK
James Cooper, Lecturer in Organic Chemistry, University of Reading, United Kingdom
Christian Teutloff, senior research associate, laboratory manager AG Bittl & AG Joseph, Freie Universität Berlin, Department of Physics, Germany
Rupert Smith, Director, VSM Instruments Ltd., United Kingdom
Toshinori Suzuki, Professor, Kyoto University, Japan
Alex Martinière, group leader, CNRS, France
Kristian Müller-Nedebock, Professor, Stellenbosch University, South Africa
Matteo Michiardi, Senior Scientist, University of British Columbia, Canada
Donna Strickland, Professor, University of Waterloo, Canada
Trevor Smith, Professor, University of Melbourne, Australia
Jonathan Reid FRS, Professor of Physical Chemistry, University of Bristol, UK
Charlotte Sanders, Senior Experimental Scientist, Science & Technology Facilities Council, UK
Murad Tayebjee, Associate Dean Engineering (EDI), UNSW, Australia
Neil Hunt, Professor of Physical Chemistry, University of York, UK
Folusho Balogun, Application Specialist - Spectroscopy, Oxford Instruments Andor, UK
Louis Chawner, Account Manager, Laser 2000 (UK) Ltd, UK
Johanna Bischof, Head of Bio-Hub Operations, Euro-BioImaging ERIC, Germany
Emily Farley, PhD Student, Oxford University, United Kingdom
Sean Roberts, Professor of Chemistry, The University of Texas at Austin, USA
R. J. Dwayne Miller, Professor of Chemistry and Physics, University of Toronto, Canada
Séamus Holden, Professor, University of Warwick, UK
Nicki Wallace, Senior project and operations coordinator, STFC, Uk
Henrik Strahl, Professor of Molecular Microbiology, Centre for Bacterial Cell Biology, Biosciences Institute, Newcastle University, United Kingdom
Gareth Williams, PhD Student, University of Sheffield, United Kingdom
Melissa Webby, Wellcome Trust Career Development Fellow/Assistant professor, University of Warwick, UK
Joseph Umpleby-Thorp, PhD Student, University of York, United Kingdom
Lorna Sinclair, Technical Specialist, University of Manchester, United Kingdom
Daria Gorelova, Professor, Brandenburg University of Technology, Germany
Maria Eugenia Sanz, Reader in Physical Chemistry, King’s College London, UK
Ro-Ya Liu, Assistant researcher, National synchrotron radiation research center, Taiwan
Vanessa De Sousa Vieira, Postdoctoral Researcher, Católica Biomedical Research Centre, Universidade Católica Portuguesa, Portugal, Portugal
Mauro Fanciulli, Associate professor, Cergy Paris University, France
Tom Ritman-Meer, Regional Sales Engineer, Andor Technology Limited, United Kingdom
Georg Wille, Staff Scientist, Goethe University Frankfurt, Germany
Rosa Arrigo, Associate Professor, Salford University, United Kingdom
Chiara Perico, Postdoctoral researcher, University of Oxford, UK
Caterina Vozzi, Director - Istituto di Fotonica e Nanotecnologie, Consiglio Nazionale delle Ricerche, Italy
Karin Hauser, Professor of Biophysical Chemistry, University of Konstanz, Germany
Steven Street, Lecturer in Soft Matter, University of Liverpool, United Kingdom
Alice Martin, PhD Student, University of York, United Kingdom
Martin Wilding, Experimental officer, Cardiff University, UK
Sanford Ruhman, Professor Emeritus, The Hebrew University Institute of Chemistry, Israel
Rosa Weigand, Full Professor, Department of Optics, Faculty of Physical Sciences, Universidad Complutense de Madrid, Spain
Howe-Siang Tan, Professor, Nanyang Technological University, Singapore, Singapore
Alessandra Botteon, Researcher, CNR, Italy
John Wright, Andreas Albrecht Professor of Chemistry, University of Wisconsin, Madison WI, United States of America
Richard Catlow FRS, Professor, University College London and Cardiff University, UK
Andrew Beale, Professor of Inorganic Chemistry & Group Leader, UCL, UK
Noah Liley, Student, University Of Southampton, England
Harry B. Gray FRS, Arnold O. Beckman Professor of Chemistry, California Institute of Technology, USA
Russell Taylor, Associate Professor of Chemistry, Durham University, UK
Rakesh Arul, Research Fellow, St. John’s College, University of Cambridge, United Kingdom
Stephen Carr, PDRA, University of Oxford, 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.