Manchester seeks alternative Jodrell funds despite Burnham pledge

The University of Manchester is seeking alternative funding sources to keep scientific work at Jodrell Bank going after hearing that lost UK Research and Innovation funding would not be restored despite interventions by the prime minister.

Andy Burnham’s pledge to save the Cheshire-based observatory has done little to relieve uncertainty over the site, with the government confirming that the e-MERLIN network – headquartered at the Lovell telescope at Jodrell – will still lose funding in 2028.

Some fear that Burnham will only succeed in ensuring Jodrell continues as a heritage site, rather than as a functioning scientific facility.

However, there is some cause for hope that the “world-class” science conducted there will continue, Sarah Sharples, the university’s dean of science and engineering, told Times Higher Education.

Manchester is taking a “constellation” approach to securing alternative funding, she said. It is exploring different funding sources with the potential to enable “the work of radio astronomy to be preserved at the Jodrell Bank site for the future”, Sharples said, stressing that she is restricted in what she can say as fundraising conversations continue.

Sharples, who sits on the Council of Science and Technology advising the prime minister, said there was still “a role for some small government funding for this type of facility”. This is needed to recognise the value that preserving the site brings, she said.

The Jodrell site provides the “underpinning ability for us to do world-class science”, Sharples said. But it has also now become clear that there is an “inextricable link between Jodrell as a functioning radio astronomy [site]…and the power and the value of the experience that people get when they visit the site and the centre for engagement”.

In the days after the UKRI announcement there was an “emotional outpouring of response” that “completely overwhelmed” the institution, Sharples said, describing Jodrell as holding a place “in the public affection somewhere between the late Queen and Paddington Bear”. It has since received £50,000 in public donations.

The university supports 40 per cent of Jodrell’s combined activities at the centre for engagement and the observatory and centre for astrophysics. Sharples said it is also reviewing the contribution to ensure it is the most “impactful” it can be in scientific terms.

The Jodrell Bank site also houses the headquarters of the Square Kilometre Array Observatory (SKAO), an intergovernmental organisation building two telescopes in South Africa and Australia.

Sharples said that it was important for the UK to “maintain our national capacity alongside SKAO” because “e-MERLIN…is a UK facility over which we have complete control and access. Not just for science but for other government priorities.”

On Burnham’s pledge, Sharples said it has “provided a useful framing and impetus for our ongoing discussions with government colleagues and other partners, and we are really grateful for their collaborative working with us”.

Jim Wild, president of the Royal Astronomical Society (RAS), said that the uncertain future of the e-MERLIN network was “deeply concerning for the researchers, engineers and technical staff whose livelihoods depend on the facility, as well as for the national and international collaborators who rely on it”.

He said that “e-MERLIN is also far from being an isolated case. Across astronomy and space science, the community is facing what amount to real-terms cuts of around 35 per cent to major projects and facilities.”

frances.jones@timeshighereducation.com