A statement on the EPSRC "Shaping Capability" announcement of July 2011 and how it affects the mathematical sciences is below.

In July 2011, EPSRC decided that it would not accept applications for research fellowships in any area of the mathematical sciences except statistics and applied probability, until further notice. This will force many of the UK's best PhD students to leave the country to get their first academic job, and will prevent us from attracting the best foreign postdoctoral researchers. Postdoctoral fellowships are an essential part of the pipeline that allows some PhDs to become leading scientists. If EPSRC continues this policy, British mathematics will face mediocrity in a decade.

UK mathematics is under-resourced already. In 2009/10, EPSRC slashed its funding of research grants in the mathematical sciences (the other main type of research funding besides fellowships) to £12 million, from £24.2 million only two years before. The UK's competitors would find that decision hard to understand. The US is increasing its research grants in the mathematical sciences despite the recession, because of the prospect of long-term growth founded on research. The UK's small investment in mathematics must be used wisely.

Letters

• 11 January 2012 letter from 88 leading UK scientists to the Daily Telegraph. "EPSRC should be restructured with an unfaltering focus on scientific excellence, or be replaced."
• 20 December 2011 letter from the presidents of the UK's five learned societies in the mathematical sciences to David Delpy of EPSRC. They state their major and continuing concerns about EPSRC fellowships in the mathematical sciences. They also analyse Delpy's statement on fellowships to the House of Lords science and technology committee.
• 9 December 2011 letter from Frank Kelly to the UK's five learned societies in the mathematical sciences, summarizing EPSRC's recent policies and how the CMS is responding to them.
• 25 November 2011 letter from Alessio Corti to the House of Lords science and technology committee. "I write to tell you how upset I am by the introduction of National Importance as a primary assessment criterion of EPSRC grants. I am so upset in fact that I am considering refusing to peer-review."
• 24 October 2011 letter from Arieh Iserles, Richard Thomas and Burt Totaro to David Delpy of EPSRC.
• 17 October 2011 reply from David Willetts, Minister for Universities and Science, to the letter from twenty-five leading mathematical scientists about EPSRC's July restriction on fellowships.
• 11 October 2011 letter from over 300 young mathematical scientists to the Prime Minister, protesting against EPSRC's July restriction on fellowships. There is an accompanying press release.
• 6 October 2011 reply from David Delpy of EPSRC to the letter from twenty-five leading mathematical scientists.
• 28 September 2011 letter from Michael Singer of the University of Edinburgh to David Willetts (Minister for Universities and Science) on EPSRC's relationship with the UK science community.
• 20 September 2011 letter from twenty-five leading UK mathematical scientists, including four Fields Medallists, to Prime Minister David Cameron, protesting against EPSRC's July 2011 policy on fellowships. There is an accompanying press release.
• 19 September 2011 letter from the presidents of the Royal Society, Council for the Mathematical Sciences, Institute of Physics, Royal Society of Chemistry, Royal Academy of Engineering, and Institute for Engineering and Technology to David Delpy of EPSRC, calling for a pause in EPSRC's Shaping Capability policy.
• 8 September 2011 letter from Margaret Wright on behalf of the International Review panel to David Delpy, Chief Executive of EPSRC, protesting against EPSRC's July 2011 policy on fellowships.
• 25 August 2011 reply from Angus MacIntyre of the London Mathematical Society to Philippa Hemmings, head of Mathematical Sciences at EPSRC, questioning EPSRC's policy of Shaping Capability.
• 17 August 2011 letter from Frank Kelly of the Council for Mathematical Sciences to the Prime Minister, protesting against EPSRC's July 2011 policy on fellowships. There is an accompanying press release.
• 12 August 2011 letter from Philippa Hemmings of EPSRC to heads of UK mathematics departments, explaining EPSRC's policy of Shaping Capability.
• 12 August 2011 reply from David Delpy, Chief Executive of EPSRC, to Frank Kelly, chair of the CMS.
• 5 August 2011 letter from David Arrowsmith, Chair of HoDoMs (Heads of Departments of Mathematics), to Philippa Hemmings of EPSRC, questioning EPSRC's restriction on fellowships.
• 2 August 2011 letter from the Council for Mathematical Sciences to EPSRC, protesting against EPSRC's July 2011 policy on fellowships.

Press Coverage - most recent first

• "Whitehall `threat' to future of science"- Daily Telegraph - 11 January 2012. "The future of British science is under serious threat because its funding body is making `disastrous errors', more than 70 senior academics have warned. In a letter to The Daily Telegraph, they claim changes introduced by the Engineering and Physical Sciences Research Council are `damaging scientific discovery in Britain' because civil servants have taken on new powers to dictate what type of science is given money."
• "Research intelligence - Oh Lords, please don't let me be misunderstood"- THE - 15 December 2011. "Meanwhile, mathematicians have continued to protest against the confinement of postdoctoral fellowships in maths to applicants working in statistics and applied probability.
  Professor Delpy said this area had consistently been identified as weak, but `the consequence of leaving this to the community to decide was that, in the past five years, not one fellowship in mathematics was awarded in the statistics area'. He told the committee that the call for the next round of fellowships would include two additional subject areas.
  But an internal briefing note produced for the Council for Mathematical Sciences says that postdoctoral fellowships - the subject of the Lords' questioning - would still be confined to statistics. It urges the EPSRC to `urgently reconsider' that decision.
  The note also describes as `misleading' Professor Delpy's claim to the committee that the EPSRC was `not a major player' in maths research because it funded just 10 of at least 370 postdoctoral fellowships available in the subject each year. It calls the EPSRC's analysis flawed and says that, in reality, it funded about 40 per cent of awards."
• "EPSRC: `Hope you like our new direction (but if not we don't care)'"- Acoustics etc. - 30 November 2011. "Sustainable energy is a priority area, one of the least contentious ones by common consent.... But EPSRC have determined that onshore wind does not count as the kind of sustainable energy they want to prioritize research into, though offshore wind does."
• "EPSRC funding changes court controversy"- TCE Today - 23 November 2011. "From 15 November onward, anyone applying for an EPSRC grant will have to explain the `national importance' of their work over a timeframe of 10-50 years. `This should be articulated in relation to other research in the area, explaining how it aligns to national UK priorities, responds to user/stakeholder pull or underpins priority areas for other research councils,' the EPSRC says on its website. Reviewers checking the proposals will take the national importance of the research into account along with the research quality, EPSRC says."
• "`Absurd' EPSRC grant metric turns scientists into fortune-tellers"- Purse String Theory - 19 November 2011. "Assessment based on national importance will certainly help civil servants justify science spend to the government when the next Spending Review comes around (which is almost certainly why it's being done). But it won't necessarily help the state of UK science - and may wholly backfire, stifling discovery and innovation just when we need them for economic recovery."
• "Physical sciences: Research council will support excellence"- Nature - 17 November 2011, by David Delpy and John Armitt of EPSRC.
• "No EPSRC remedy yet for maths PhD failures"- Research Fortnight - 16 November 2011. "An action plan by the Engineering and Physical Sciences Research Council has promised to try to better understand issues in PhD quality and training but makes no commitments to improve provision."
• "Assessing impact at proposal stage `absurd'"- THE - 9 November 2011. "The Astronomer Royal [Sir Martin Rees] has called for a system of scientific research funding which puts far less stress on `improving efficiency in the "office management" sense' and sets out to `maximize the chance of landmark achievements'."
• "EPSRC won't shelve `shaping capabilities', but will consult more"- THE - 28 October 2011.
  "The Engineering and Physical Sciences Research Council has declined to mothball its controversial Shaping Capability policy, but agreed to work more closely with learned societies on implementing it."
• "`National importance' becomes critical in EPSRC peer review"- Research Fortnight - 27 October 2011. "The Engineering and Physical Sciences Research Council has announced details of the changes to peer review under its Shaping Capability scheme. Under the plans, `national importance' will become a primary assessment criterion, alongside research quality, from 15 November."
• "EPSRC under fire again as maths students complain to Cameron"- Research Fortnight - 12 October 2011.
• "EPSRC fails to placate critics of its effort to `shape' research capability"- THE - 6 October 2011.
  "The EPSRC Council will this month [19/20 October] consider a call from leading national academies, including the Royal Society, for the postponement of the introduction of Shaping Capability."
• "Vagueness reigns as UK science agency defends cuts"- Nature - 26 September 2011.
  "Andrew Bourne, presenting EPSRC's strategy, said the agency wouldn't present its full physical sciences decisions until November, and wouldn't get to the nitty-gritty of winnowing out grant applications in particular areas until April 2012 - and that it was still wondering how best to do it.
  `They gave the impression that they had started on a journey, didn't know where they were going to end up, and were just hopeful they were going to get there,' says the Royal Society of Chemistry's Neville Reed."
• "Pressure on EPSRC mounts over `shaping capabilities' program"- THE - 23 September 2011.
• "Press the pause button, Societies urge Delpy"- Research Fortnight - 22 September 2011. "The Royal Society has organised a letter - signed by the heads of six learned societies - urging the Engineering and Physical Sciences Research Council to `pause' the implementation of its funding strategy, Shaping Capability."
• "Pressure rises as maths `nobellists' complain to Cameron"- Research Fortnight - 21 September 2011.
• "Mathematicians slam UK.gov plans to fund statistics only"- Register - 21 September 2011.
• "Mathematicians warn of damage to economy from maths funding cuts"- Guardian - 20 September 2011.
• "UK mathematicians protest fellowship cuts"- Nature - 20 September 2011.
  "First the chemists: now, the mathematicians. In Britain, both groups of researchers have written to Prime Minister David Cameron, to express anger about the policies of their grant-funding agency, the Engineering and Physical Sciences Research Council (EPSRC).
  In a letter sent today (20 September), twenty-five eminent mathematicians - including four Fields Medallists - complain that EPSRC has scrapped fellowships in all but two areas of mathematical sciences, statistics and applied probability. This, they say, will force many PhD students to leave the country to continue their careers and will stop the best postdoctoral students coming to the UK. `If EPSRC continues this policy, British mathematics will face mediocrity in a decade,' they say. Separately, a group of doctoral and postdoctoral mathematicians are coordinating their own letter to Cameron (they are collecting signatures here."
• "We should have avoided the word `consultation'"- Research Fortnight - 9 September 2011.
  "David Delpy, chief executive of the Engineering and Physical Sciences Research Council, says he regrets having used the term `consultation' when referring to discussions with a number of organizations on possible cuts to the council's research portfolio.
  The portfolio has faced vocal opposition from the research community since its publication in July. Both the Institute of Physics and the Royal Society of Chemistry have denied the EPSRC's claims that they were consulted on the plans, saying they were merely briefed.
  `We should have avoided the word "consultation" and gone out to describe specifically the process we were going through and perhaps issued an open call for evidence,' Delpy told Research Fortnight."
• "PM warned of toxic results if funding bonds are broken" - THE - 1 September 2011.
  "Frank Kelly, chair of the Council for the Mathematical Sciences, has written to [David] Cameron to protest against [EPSRC's] restriction of mathematics applications to researchers working in statistics and applied probability.
  Professor Kelly, who is also professor of the mathematics of systems and master of Christ's College, Cambridge, says the changes have been introduced `with no warning' and would cut off one of the few sources of postdoctoral support in maths.
  `Fellowships at the postdoctoral level provide a rare opportunity for the future leaders of the discipline to develop independently, and the loss of these fellowships to the general area of mathematical sciences will hit the best young mathematicians disproportionately,' he writes."

Parliamentary Hearings

• 29 November 2011: The House of Lords science and technology committee questioned David Delpy and John Armitt of EPSRC for one hour. You can see the video recording, or the transcript. The hearing was on EPSRC's recent change to peer review, making National Importance an assessment criterion separate from research excellence. Several committee members asked what National Importance meant, and how mathematics in particular would be affected.
• 26 October 2011: Question, question, two sharp questions in the Lords by Lord Lucas, on what mechanisms exist for scientists to call research councils to account, and what is the role of elected officials in this process. He emphasizes the call by the Royal Society and the other UK learned societies for a "pause" in EPSRC's Shaping Capability policy. 14 November 2011: Response from Baroness Wilcox, the Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State, Department for Business, Innovation and Skills.
• 20 October 2011: Question in the Lords by Lord Lucas, on the government's response to the letter from twenty-five leading mathematical scientists. He was given the letter from David Willetts, above.
• Transcription of David Delpy's testimony to the Commons science and technology committee.
• 14 September 2011: The Commons science and technology committee hearing questioned David Delpy on EPSRC's policy of Shaping Capability. You can hear the recording. The MPs start their tough questioning at 9:42, and turn specifically to the mathematical sciences from 10:00 to 10:22. The MPs emphasize the letters from Frank Kelly and Margaret Wright which question EPSRC's decision to scrap fellowships in most of the mathematical sciences until further notice. (See links above.) Later, David Willetts (Minister for Universities and Science) is questioned hard on EPSRC's policy of Shaping Capability from 10:46 to 10:53.

Briefing Material

• EPSRC published its 2010-11 annual report on 24 November 2011.
• The Council for Mathematical Sciences submission to Parliament's Science and Technology Committee in April 2011 has excellent arguments and numbers on the strength and importance of UK mathematics and on EPSRC's low level of research funding in the mathematical sciences. Anyone who wants to organize in defence of UK mathematics should look at this.

Glossary

• EPSRC: the Engineering and Physical Sciences Research Council. The main conduit for UK government funding of research grants, fellowships, and graduate students in the mathematical sciences.
• CMS: the Council for the Mathematical Sciences. An umbrella body for the main UK learned societies in the mathematical sciences: the London Mathematical Society (LMS), the Institute for Mathematics and its Applications (IMA), the Royal Statistical Society (RSS), the Edinburgh Mathematical Society (EMS), and the Operational Research Society (ORS).
• IRMS: International Review of Mathematical Sciences 2010. This is a panel of leading international mathematicians who were invited by EPSRC to visit the UK and report on the strengths and weaknesses of the UK's research in mathematical sciences and how it is funded. Their report makes an excellent case for the strength of UK mathematics and the importance of keeping it strong across a wide range of universities.
• SAT: EPSRC's Strategic Advisory Team in the mathematical sciences consists of academics who are supposed to be consulted about relevant policies.

Some Relevant Blogs

• 18 August 2011: The London Mathematical Society has a blog with comments on EPSRC's policy of Shaping Capability.
• 26 July 2011: The blog by Fields Medallist Tim Gowers analysed EPSRC's justification for its July 2011 fellowship decision. This led to a long series of comments by mathematicians.

Other Campaigns

• STFC Funding Crisis: Particle Physics helped to inspire this web page.
• STFC Funding Crisis: Astronomy