UK Free-Electron Laser Forum Meeting

Imperial College

14 June 2013

Remarks by John Womersley

  • STFC’s Science Board is currently carrying out a Programmatic Review of our whole science programme, informed by submissions from the various STFC departments and advice from the Science Board subgroups and advisory panels. This is due for publication in the Autumn.
  • While the review itself is not yet complete, we have already used some of the ‘emerging conclusions’ to guide our planning for capital bids and for the 2015/16 spending review.
  • In the facilities area, the review has identified a high priority for the UK to secure access to an x-ray free electron laser facility. This is seen as a major gap in our current facilities access portfolio as it represents an emerging and important area of science where we have no provision in place.
  • It has been proposed that the first step in addressing this gap will be to re-engage with the European XFEL project in Hamburg.
  • In the short term, a feasible route to do so appears to be offered by the European XFEL User Consortia proposals that have been made for life sciences (the SFX beamline) and for physical sciences (the Helmholtz International Beamline for Extreme Fields) and which are currently being considered by the research councils.
  • In the medium term, a capital bid for a more substantial UK contribution through STFC has been made as part of the RCUK capital investment roadmap. Whether this will be successful remains to be seen.
  • Looking further ahead, it may well be that the UK will wish to construct its own X-ray FEL facility in due course –such a decision will have to take account of the capacity and capability or our access to overseas facilities, plus the size and scientific requirements of the UK community.
  • Again, we have included such a facility in our ten-year forward vision for capital investments, in response to a request from the minister for bold and ambitious plans.
  • Clearly R&D activities in support of this would need to be put in place and we are looking at the CLARA project at Daresbury in that context.
  • The difficult funding environment for science makes it hard to start new projects, but I am cautiously optimistic that a route can be found for the UK to engage with XFEL