The future of PPARC.

April appears to be the common deadline for more than one grant-awarding scheme in the area of science funding. The Particle Physics and Astronomy Research Council (PPARC) funds projects publicizing relevant science areas in the UK and encourages creativity in the public understanding of science and technology (PUST). The fourth round of its Small Awards Scheme has a deadline of 10 April 1997. Awards range from £100 to £10 000 per project (maximum) and applications for jointly funded projects are welcomed. Projects must be in particle physics, space, planetary and solar science, astronomy, astrophysics and cosmology. Application forms are available from the PUST Office, Room 2232, PPARC, Polaris House, North Star Avenue, Swindon, Wiltshire SN2 1SZ (tel: 01793 442123, fax: 01793 442002, email: pr_pus@pparc.ac.uk ). The Royal Society - Esso science education partnership grants have been designed to encourage ideas for activities from teachers and scientists/engineers that would enable school pupils of any age to experience something of the nature, processes and excitement of science, engineering and technology and the benefits they bring to society. Grants are available to support activities and initiatives aimed at promoting scientific research in schools; these activities can be one-off events or continuing projects and the funding provided will be in the region of £250 - 1500. Proposals must, however, include genuine pupil involvement and clearly defined potential benefits for those taking part. The deadline for the receipt of applications is 30 April 1997, and further details and application forms are available from the Science Promotion Section (GMF) at the Royal Society, 6 Carlton House Terrace, London SW1Y 5AG (tel: 0171 451 2582). Back at the start of the year, funding was announced for 38 new public understanding of science projects by the Royal Society and the Office of Science and Technology. The projects to be supported range from a rainforest experience to a planetarium, and they are based throughout the UK, from Brighton to the Isle of Mull. The Royal Society is also supporting 61 projects taking place during the National Week of Science, Engineering and Technology (set97) on 14 - 23 March 1997.

The UK subscriptions to the European Space Agency (ESA) and CERN, the European particle physics laboratory, do not represent value for money, according to the Particle Physics and Astronomy Research Council (PPARC). The claim is made in evidence to the House of Commons Select Committee on Science and Technology, who are carrying out an inquiry into the research council. PPARC says that it needs another £13m each year – its budget is £192m this year – for UK researchers to make the most of PPARC's investment.

Using space science and technology as an educational tool: Two different approaches

The UK government should provide adequate funding for British particle physicists to make use of the Large Hadron Collider, the £lbn accelerator due to be built at CERN, the European particle physics laboratory. And the UK science budget should not have to pay for fluctuations in the UK subscription to CERN. These are the recommendations of the House of Commons Select Committee on Science and Technology's report on the Particle Physics and Astronomy Research Council (PPARC), which was published at the end of last month. Indeed, there is a good case for a general increase in the science budget, continues the report. However, it warns that the longer-term future for large particle physics experiments could be bleak.

The 7th UK Phenomenology Initiative Workshop took place at St John's College at the University of Durham on 19-24 September1999. The workshop focussed on topical areas in `ColliderPhysics' with emphasis on those topics of interest to more thanone of the LEP, HERA and Tevatron communities.As at previous workshops in this series, the main aim was toprovide opportunities for UK experimenters and phenomenologiststo meet in an environment which would stimulate discussion andcollaboration. This workshop had the new feature that it broughttogether physicists interested in a broad range of topicsthereby providing an opportunity for the UK community to cometogether as a whole. In total there were 97 participants: 38 UKexperimenters, 32 UK theorists and 27 overseas scientists.The first day of the workshop was given over to plenary talks onkey topics. The idea being that these talks should set the tonefor the subsequent working group discussions. During thefollowing days, people were able to participate in anuninterrupted programme of working group activities and thefinal day was devoted to plenary talks summarizing the workinggroup activities. As anticipated there was a healthy amount ofcross-fertilization between the groups.There were five working groups:WG1: Beyond the Standard Model WG2: Electroweak physics WG3: QCD WG4: Diffraction and small-x WG5: Heavy flavoursThe following papers cover the first day's plenary talks andreport on the progress made during the week's working groupactivities.Feedback obtained from the participants indicated that theworkshop was a success. In particular, the format of theworkshop was once again applauded and the opportunity for thewider community to meet and discuss topics of common interestwas appreciated. The workshop succeeded in triggering newcollaborations and activities, some of which are reported inthese proceedings.Thanks are due to all of the speakers and to the workshoporganizers: Ben Allanach, Nick Brook, Glen Cowan, Brian Cox,Jeff Forshaw, Nigel Glover, Todd Huffman, Roger Jones, MichaelKrämer, Mark Lancaster, Steve Maxfield, Adrian Signer, StefanSoldner-Rembold, Mark Sutton, Mike Whalley and Terry Wyatt. Veryspecial thanks go to Mike Whalley, Nigel Glover and theirassistant Joanne Gillett who were responsible for the localorganization.We also thank the UK Particle Physics and Astronomy ResearchCouncil (PPARC) for financial support.

Should scientists agree to draw up plans that might lead to the cancellation of first-class science programmes? That dilemma is currently vexing the council and subject committees of the UK's Particle Physics and Astronomy Research Council (PPARC), confronted by ever-increasing international subscription costs and thus ever-decreasing spending on domestic programmes.

Two of the acronyms most frequently used by physicists in the UK celebrate their fourth birthdays this month. Between them the EPSRC and PPARC fund most of the research projects performed by physicists in UK universities. The remit of the Particle Physics and Astronomy Research Council (PPARC) is sell-explanatory, while the Engineering and Physical Sciences Research Council (EPSRC) supports most other areas of physics, with a few exceptions such as biophysics. The two councils have approached their tasks in very different ways and with varying degrees of success.

Particle physics in the UK will need an additional £45.5m over inflation in the seven years after 1998/99 if it is to sustain a healthy programme of research. That's the conclusion of a review published last month by the particle physics committee of the UK's Particle Physics and Astronomy Research Council (PPARC). The extra money will be required for building the detectors on CERN's Large Hadron Collier (LHC), as well as for other particle physics experiments.

YOUR NEWS WANTED The news section gives updates on what has been happening in physics education worldwide. Items included show how events in one country could be relevant to good practice elsewhere in the world. Contributions are welcome from all our readers and should be about 200 to 300 words and can include a picture.

PPARC makes the case for space