The Royal Society of Chemistry (RSC), UK, has echoed the main message of a joint letter sent by the UK's leading science bodies to the Engineering and Physical Sciences Research Council (EPSRC). The letter comes in the wake of controversy over planned cuts by the EPSRC in the field of synthetic organic chemistry.
RSC President, Prof. David Phillips, has said the RSC believes strongly that the EPSRC needs to pause a while and listen to the community and the RSC hopes that the council takes that route.
According to him, such a period of reflection would allow for feedback and new evidence from the community to be absorbed. Above all, the decision about reduction in spend should be taken after wide consultation and buy-in from the community. The RSC through its own roadmap, Chemistry for Tomorrow's World, is committed to supporting excellent research and innovation across the country.
Further, Prof. Phillips said, chemistry research alone enabled UK companies to create more than 20 percent of the GDP; any funding actions that threatens this vast contribution must be considered long and hard, in order to avoid inflicting irreparable damage in the short and long term.
On September 26, 2011, the RSC will attend a gathering of academic and learned organisations who have been invited to a 'town hall' meeting arranged by the EPSRC. The aim is to address some of the issues thrown up by the lack of consultation on EPSRC's 'Shaping Capability' report which ignited debate in the scientific community.
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