STFC panel backs call for nuclear physics theory groups

A panel advising the Science and Technology Facilities Council on nuclear physics has backed calls for a new theory group to be established at a UK university.

The idea of creating an extra theory group was first raised in a report published by the Institute of Physics on 24 October and now features in the Nuclear Physics Advisory Panel’s submission to the STFC’s 2012 programmatic review. This is one way of strengthening the UK’s “fragile position” in nuclear physics, the panel says.

“The community believes that there should be a competitive process in which STFC funds 50 per cent of a chair,” states the NPAP report. “This should be bid for, with matching funds, by UK physics departments with NP groups.”