Womersley was the CEO until 2016 when he left to become Director General of the European Spallation Source. Dr Brian Bowsher, former CEO of the National Physical Laboratory and member of STFC's Council was the last CEO of the STFC before it was subsumed into UK Research and Innovation. In 2018, Professor Mark Thomson was appointed as the first Executive Chair of STFC under UKRI. Professor Michele Dougherty took over in 2025.[4]
Purpose
STFC's mission is "To maximise the impact of our knowledge, skills, facilities and resources for the benefit of the United Kingdom and its people" under several heads:[5]
Scientific Facilities: They provide access to world-leading, large-scale facilities across a range of physical and life sciences, enabling research, innovation and skills.[6]
National Campuses: Working with partners to build National Science and Innovation Campuses based around National Laboratories to promote academic and industrial collaboration and translation of research to market through direct interaction with industry.[7]
Inspiring and Involving: STFC help create a future pipeline of skilled and enthusiastic young people by using the excitement of our sciences to encourage wider take-up of STEM subjects in school and future life (science, technology, engineering and mathematics).[8]
Activities
The STFC is one of Europe's largest multidisciplinary research organisations supporting scientists and engineers worldwide.[9] Through research fellowships and grants, it is responsible for funding research in UK universities, in the fields of astronomy, particle physics, nuclear physics and space science. The STFC operates its own world-class, large-scale research facilities, such as materials research, laser and space science and alternative energy exploration, and provides strategic advice to the UK government on their development.
It manages international research projects in support of a broad cross-section of the UK research community and directs, coordinates and funds research, education and training. It is a partner in the UK Space Agency (formerly British National Space Centre or BNSC) providing about 40% of the UK government's expenditure in space science and technology.
Facilities
It helps operate/provide access for UK and international scientists to the following large-scale facilities:
STFC is active in its responsibility for knowledge exchange from government funded civil science into UKPLC. As such, many technologies are licensed to UK companies and spin-out companies created including:
However knowledge exchange activities are not purely limited to commercialization of technologies, but also cover a wider range of activities which aim to transfer expertise into the wider economy.
This page is based on this Wikipedia article Text is available under the CC BY-SA 4.0 license; additional terms may apply. Images, videos and audio are available under their respective licenses.
