100+ Figures Urge UK to Reverse Jodrell Bank Funding Cuts
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- Over 100 artists, writers and scientists — including New Order, Chris Hadfield and Simon Armitage — have written to Prime Minister Andy Burnham, business secretary Jonathan Reynolds and the head of UKRI demanding the reversal of funding cuts to Jodrell Bank Observatory's e-Merlin radio telescope network.
- UKResearch and Innovation (UKRI) announced it will withdraw funding for e-Merlin, the UK's national radio astronomy facility, when the current agreement ends in March 2028; the signatories call saving £2.8m a year "foolish and shortsighted."
- The cuts threaten 28 jobs at the Cheshire observatory and affect nearly 3,000 researchers, while the letter warns the site would become home to "the world's largest disused radio telescope" alongside the new headquarters of the Square Kilometre Array Observatory (SKAO).
- The e-Merlin network centers on the Grade I-listed Lovell telescope, which tracked Sputnik in 1957 and is a UNESCO World Heritage Site central to the SKAO's mission to map the first billion years of the universe.
- Broader STFC cuts announced last week hit dozens of facilities, including a 20% cut to UK participation in the just-launched Rubin Observatory in Chile, a 45% cut to the Next-Generation Transit Survey, and a full UK withdrawal from the Event Horizon Telescope — with roughly 800 job losses expected in total.
- The STFC attributed the savings drive to cost overruns, soaring electricity and staff costs, and unfavorable foreign exchange rates for international collaborations, despite UKRI's annual budget of nearly £10bn.
Why it matters: The £2.8m annual saving would end UK operations at a UNESCO World Heritage Site that hosts the SKAO's global headquarters and the Lovell telescope, threatening 28 direct jobs and disrupting nearly 3,000 researchers — a disproportionate cost given UKRI's £10bn annual budget and the observatory's role in tracking space debris, asteroids and solar flares.
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