The Advisory Board for the Research Councils (ABRC) decided to award 20 million of the 24 million pounds ($34 million) that were added to Britain's 300-million-pound academic research budget to the Science and Engineering Research Council (SERC). That action staves off a crisis in payment of the country's subscription to Europe's premier particle physics laboratory, CERN, in Geneva. But the award leaves little extra cash for the four smaller research councils covering medicine, environment, agriculture and the social sciences.
The ABRC told Kenneth Baker, Secretary of State for Education and Science, that it was dismayed by the small amount of cash it had to allocate, which the Board said falls far short of matching the level of research the country needs (see "Up Front With Eugene Garfield," page 9). Speaking for the opposition Labour Party in the house debate last month, Lord Williams said it was doubtful Britain could survive ...
