I know I'm nagging but this really is crucial for the future of Diamond. Today Trevor Rayment sent an email to the members of the Diamond User Committee. I quote...
"The situation is both difficult and also uncertain. Cuts have been imposed upon ISIS, published and widely disseminated in the popular press. The cuts proposed for Diamond will be at least as painful and in the next year may be much worse" "We are being asked to make cuts of 12% from our proposed operating budget. Diamond has sought all possible means to absorb cuts without compromising the short term delivery of a world class service for users. But as new beamlines are commissioned each year our operating costs have to rise. (The capital and manpower costs of beamlines under construction are paid from the Phase II project- a ring fenced budget). As a young and growing facility, we have been able to save money by making delays in staff appointments (eg the beamline pdra), however we cannot absorb the proposed cuts this year without reducing the service that we offer to users. The situation for next year (from April 2010) looks much worse. You may find the current spending priorities for STFC to be of interest." "First and foremost we need as many users (and those who have not yet used Diamond) as possible to complete the STFC questionnaire to be found at http://www.scitech.ac.uk/forms/pap.aspx. I hope that you will be able to find the time to respond yourself." "I believe that the most important strategic question to is number 2 - “Please identify the top major scientific challenges to be solved in your field and neighboring fields, in the short term (<5 years) and medium term (<10 years)”. Responses to this question will determine funding priorities for the next 10-20 years." Peter Peter Moody 1/56 Henry Wellcome Laboratories University of Leicester Lancaster Road Leicester LE1 9HN UK tel. (0)116 229 7097 fax. (0)116 229 7084 Times Higher Education University of the Year 2008-9
