PPARC’s Five Year Strategic Programme is now available online at
http://www.pparc.ac.uk/Pbl/pubs.asp

Over one hundred delegates from Parliament, Whitehall and Industry
attended a reception on Tuesday night (25 November) to mark the launch
the Particle Physics and Astronomy Research Council’s (PPARC) Five Year
Plan.

The reception, which was addressed by the Rt Hon Charles Clarke MP,
Secretary of State for Education and Dr Ian Gibson, Chair of the
Science and Technology Select Committee, looked ahead to the next suite
of cutting edge projects and celebrated the many exciting developments
in UK science over recent years.

Professor Ian Halliday, PPARC’s Chief Executive, said:

“It is an exciting time for PPARC science. The science delivered over
the last four years results from the increases in the science budget
which has made a real difference. With many more opportunities ahead of
us, such as the Linear Collider and Extremely Large Telescopes, it is
time to build on our success and ensure that the UK remains at the
forefront of cutting edge science and technology.”

The key highlights and future work from UK research involves answering
some of the fundamental questions about the Universe including:

* What are the basic properties of the fundamental particles and
forces? Through research into the mass of the W boson, Quark gluon plasmas,
neutrino oscillation

* SNO, LHC, Mice and the Linear Collider

* Why does anything exist at all?
Through research into CP-violation

* Babar, LHCb, neutrino factory

* What is the origin of the Universe?
Through research into the curvature of space

* Very Large Telescope,
Large Hadron Collider, Planck, LISA

* Does life exist elsewhere?
Through research into extra-solar planets

* Beagle 2, Very Large
Telescope, James Webb Space Telescope, DARWIN

In space science the successes include the launch of Mars Express,
carrying the UK led “Beagle 2” which is due to land on Mars on
Christmas Day and the launch of SMART-1 en route to the Moon. Both
missions have had key UK involvement from academia and industry and
look set to provide important new scientific knowledge.

PPARC science is spearheading the next generation Internet by
developing GRID technology that will have a profound impact on the
global information society. The first phase of GRID technology is now
being deployed in the run-up to handling the massive amounts of data
that will stream from the Large Hadron Collider at CERN, which is on
target for completion in 2007.

Speaking at the reception the Rt Hon Charles Clarke MP, Secretary of
State for Education said:

“I applaud the work of PPARC and in particular the efforts to answer
the deeply fundamental questions about who we are and what we are
about. Knowledge of this is important for society as a whole, and
especially in schools. Science is at the core of these big questions
and there is great opportunity to engage children by this whole
approach.”

Notes to Editors

1. PPARC’s strategic plan (2003-8) can be viewed on line at
http://www.pparc.ac.uk/Pbl/pubs.asp

2. For a hard copy of PPARC’s Strategic Plan please contact Jim
Gallagher on 01793 442037 or email jim.gallagher@pparc.ac.uk

3. For further information about the strategic plan and PPARC’s
programme please contact:- Peter Barratt * PPARC Press Office. Tel: 01793 442025. Email:
peter.barratt@pparc.ac.uk

4. Images of the launch event are available from the PPARC website
http://www.pparc.ac.uk or contact Gill Ormrod on 01792
442012. Email: gill.ormrod@pparc.ac.uk

5. The Particle Physics and Astronomy Research Council (PPARC) is the
UK’s strategic science investment agency. It funds research, education
and public understanding in four broad areas of science – particle
physics, astronomy, cosmology and space science.

PPARC is government funded and provides research grants and
studentships to scientists in British universities, gives researchers
access to world-class facilities and funds the UK membership of
international bodies such as the European Organisation for Nuclear
Research, CERN, the European Space Agency and the European Southern
Observatory. It also contributes money for the UK telescopes overseas
on La Palma, Hawaii, Australia and in Chile, the UK Astronomy
Technology Centre at the Royal Observatory, Edinburgh and the
MERLIN/VLBI National Facility.

For further details on PPARC see www.pparc.ac.uk