New chief for science

Peter Warry, former chairman of the Particle Physics and Astronomy Research Council, is to be chairman of the new Science and Technology Facilities Council that launched on April 1.

The STFC brings together the work of Pparc, the Council of the Central Laboratory of the research councils and the nuclear physics element of the Engineering and Physical Sciences Research Council.

The new council is responsible for particle physics, astronomy, space science, nuclear physics, synchrotron radiation, neutron sources and high-power lasers.

It has a budget of about £530 million a year, employs more than 2,000 staff and will manage the Rutherford Appleton and Daresbury laboratories.