Petition statement
On 28 May 2026 the University opened a consultation proposing to cut around 150 full-time-equivalent posts. Within it, almost every academic in the University's Particle Physics and Astronomy groups has been placed at risk, with a proposed reduction of around 35 per cent of the staff in Experimental Particle Physics, Theoretical Particle Physics, and the Astronomy Centre – several times larger, in proportional terms, than the institution-wide average. Singling out Particle Physics and Astronomy on this scale is a choice, not a necessity, and it is the wrong one.
These cuts threaten a department of genuine international standing. Its Astronomy Centre was founded in partnership with the Royal Greenwich Observatory, then at Herstmonceux, and remains a leading centre for cosmology and galaxy formation. The department leads experimental and theoretical work on physics in and beyond the Standard Model and the origin of the matter–antimatter asymmetry of the Universe, pioneers efforts to build a scalable quantum computer, and plays leading roles in major international collaborations including the ATLAS, DUNE, and DESI experiments. The Particle Physics and Astronomy groups at Sussex are a national asset that attracts talent from around the world and supplies graduates skilled in data analysis, computation, and machine learning. They are also central to undergraduate recruitment and teaching.
Damage on this scale would be in large part irreversible and not limited to the targeted research areas. Reputation built over a generation can be destroyed in far less time; talent lost will not return; and teaching capacity in a resource-intensive subject would be badly stretched. The proposed cuts run against a national interest in geographically distributed physics excellence, with no credible strategy offered for sustaining a research-intensive profile once a quarter of the department's physics academics are gone.
The Particle Physics and Astronomy groups at Sussex address major open questions in science, and their work is central to international and European strategic priorities for fundamental physics. The University has linked the cuts in part to reductions in STFC funding for Particle Physics, Astronomy, and Nuclear Physics, yet STFC's final allocations for this cycle are not yet confirmed.
We recognise the financial pressures the University faces, but this proposal is not a proportionate response. We call on the University's leadership to rule out compulsory redundancies and work openly with staff, students, and stakeholders on sustainable alternatives. And we call on policymakers to provide stable, long-term support for UK science.
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Signatories
| Name | Institution/Affiliation | Comment |
|---|---|---|
| Chris Parkes FRS | Head of physics & astronomy department, University of Manchester | This is extremely concerning news in an excellent department. As shown by the IOP, PPAN subjects are the major attractor of undergraduate students to physics. Thus Sussex needs to consider the effect that singling out leading PPAN academics will have on recruitment to the department. More generally, the reliance of the UK's university funding system on international student fees risks creating areas of the country with low cohorts of physics and other lab based STEM subjects, and thus damaging the economy of those regions. |
| John Dainton FRS | Cockcroft Institute and Lancaster University | The proposal makes no sense whatsoever. HMG wants STEM educated citizens. Just because the newish funding agency overseers UKRI and STFC have been tripping over themselves "reorganising" funding without recourse to science drivers isn't why a reputable front-line university should panic and cut its excellence in such research-led, discovery science. Instead, one would expect such a centre of excellence to engage with staff and others to plan how to manage a difficult period. But not Sussex it seems, who suffer from short-sighted, ill informed, SMT leadership who have already effectively destroyed the morale of staff and thus trust in their leadership. That's just lazy SMT stupidity endorsed by a lazy Council.. |
| Lord Martin Rees OM, FRS | Cambridge University | I had the good fortune to be a young professor at Sussex, in the days of Leggatt and Kroto. It would be relly sad if the Department's legagy of excellence weren't sustained. |
| Gavin Salam FRS | University of Oxford | I am familiar in particular with the particle theory group, which has been obtaining world-leading results years over the past years. It deserves the strongest support from the University of Sussex. |
| Aidan Robson FRSE | University of Glasgow | Particle physics is very strong in Sussex and the Sussex group is a crucial component of the UK's PPAN community! |
| Stephane Willocq | University of Massachusetts, Amherst | As Spokesperson of the ATLAS Collaboration, I am shocked to learn about the proposed drastic reduction in particle physics personnel at the University of Sussex. This group has been consistently contributing to ATLAS, the premier particle physics experiment of the past 15 years, punching above its weight in terms of leadership in both the trigger and data acquisition and the physics exploitation areas. The group currently hosts conveners and coordinators in some of the key projects, including leadership of the top-quark physics and event filter track trigger. The ATLAS experiment concluded its third extended period of data taking, recording a huge dataset that will be exploited to uncover new phenomena and provide precise tests of our current understanding of elementary particles and their interactions. This exploitation will last for the next 5-10 years. In parallel, the Sussex group and the rest of the collaboration are building a considerably upgraded version of the current detector for the high-luminosity phase of the Large Hadron Collider that will span the years 2030 to 2041. This future phase will increase the dataset by a factor of 6, again promising transformative new knowledge in particle physics. The experiment has thus a bright and long future ahead of itself, which does not warrant a sharp reduction of personnel in the Sussex group. |
| Nigel Glover FRS | Durham University | Particle physics and astronomy are one of the, if not the, main attractors for many students. Cutting staff in this area is very short sighted and a clear sign that you are not interested in excellence. |
| Tara Shears OBE | University of Liverpool | These areas draw students to study physics, and this in turn helps to fill the skills gap in the UK (and beyond). Not only do our Sussex colleagues carry out amazing research, they inspire so many; cutting here is intensely damaging for our discipline and our future economic health. |
| Prof. Simon Hands FLSW | University of Liverpool | Please think again. |
| Mark Lancaster FRS | University of Manchester | The logic that has led to this decision is short-sighted and ill-informed. UK productivity and growth requires regional centres of Physics excellence and the research areas targeted for redundancies are precisely the ones that attract students to Sussex. Redundancies will reduce the capacity for research and Sussex’s attractiveness to students and researchers and will undermine years of long term investment. It is a profoundly stupid decision. |
| Cristina Lazzeroni FRS | University of Birmingham | I am familiar with the research and outreach work of the particle group at Sussex, and I can rightly say that is excellent on all aspects. This proposal will cause major and irrevocable harm to a department with a high-profile status in international research collaborations and national public engagement, and will greatly damage the University overall. The move is shockingly short-sighted. Please think again. |
| Brian Foster FRS, OBE | University of Oxford | |
| Anne-Christine Davis, OBE | DAMTP, University of Cambridge | |
| Richard D Ball FRSE | University of Edinburgh | |
| Christopher Sachrajda FRS | University of Southampton | |
| Chris Hull FRS | Imperial College | |
| Graham Shore FLSW | Swansea University | |
| Guy Wilkinson FRS | University of Oxford | |
| Andrew Fabian OBE FRS | University of Cambridge | |
| Dave Charlton FRS | University of Birmingham | |
| Gerry Gilmore FRS | Cambridge | |
| Fay Dowker | Imperial College | Colleagues in the particle physics and astronomy groups at University of Sussex are internationally renowned physicists with many important contributions to make in the future. They have made the Department into a major centre and I always recommend students to apply for PhDs at Sussex when they ask where they should apply for PhDs in theoretical physics and cosmology. It is outrageous that such esteemed academics are being threatened with redundancy. The Senior Management at University of Sussex should reconsider this act of extreme self-harm. |
| Ian Moss | Newcastle University | I can hardly believe these internationally recognised figures are under threat of redundancy. |
| Nick Evans | University of Southampton | PPAN science is crucial to motivating young people to enter science and this will surely further damage your science departments. PPAN work is a major source of innovation in UK plc - eg CERN invented the web - are you going to do without your web site? Please join those lobbying government to protect hard science in UK universities. |
| Dan Tovey | University of Sheffield | I'm familiar with the excellent work being undertaken at Sussex as an External Research Advisor and have to say that this proposal risks major and irrevocable harm to a strongly performing department. I'm most familiar with the work of the EPP group - this group is conducting really high quality fundamental research of very high profile within several world-leading international collaborations, and EPP group members hold high profile leadership positions in many of the most exciting areas. I would also note that Sussex is a world-leader in fundamental physics outreach in the global south - this expertise really is irreplaceable. The proposed cuts, if they go ahead, would constitute a mortal wound to the worldwide physics community. |
| Steve King | University of Southampton | I urge the management to reconsider its decision to reduce by around 35 per cent the academic staff in Experimental Particle Physics, Theoretical Particle Physics and the Astronomy Centre. Research in fundamental physics provides the foundation for the whole of physics and hence its applications and contributions to the economy. I can testify that the Sussex faculty in this area are world class researchers who are well known in their field., and these proposed cuts could harm the reputation of UK as an international research partner. Many undergraduates are attracted into physics by their interest in particle physics and astronomy, and I believe cuts of this magnitude could also risk the viability of an undergraduate program in physics at one of the leading UK Universities on in the South of England. I therefore believe it is in the short and long term interests of the University of Sussex to seriously reconsider this proposal. |
| Paul Saffin | University of Nottingham | This is another appalling decision by a UK University. These short-term decisions are made by short-term managers with no care for the long-term effects their disastrous decisions leave behind, when they swan-off to their next executive posting. As a recent external examiner for the Physics and Astronomy degrees I was impressed by the standard of education on offer, and the dedication of the staff. These staff are World-leading researchers in their field who are now being let down by short-sighted management. It takes years to build up groups like the one at Sussex - the University Council and Executive board should be ashamed and removed from post. |
| Clare Burrage | University of Nottingham | The proposed cuts will cause irreversable harm to research groups whose leadership is recognised around the world. They will also have a significant impact on student recruitment, as these are the areas that attract students to study physics. Cutting academic staff in an attempt to solve short term financial problems has significant long term costs, both financial and reputational. The University of Sussex should identify solutions to its current challenges that do not damage the health of its Physics department, or the UK's reputation for scientific leadership. |
| Raju Venugopalan | Stony Brook University and Univ. of Edinburgh | The UK has a much deserved reputation for world class research in physics; such cuts would do irretrievable damage to its stature. Such cuts have a cascading effect which will seriously impact innovation and impact of Science and Technology in the UK. This is a step backwards. |
| Monica D'Onofrio | University of Liverpool | As ATLAS UK National Contact, with responsibility for coordinating activities across the 15 UK institutions participating in the ATLAS experiment at CERN, I wish to express my most serious concern regarding the proposed redundancies within the Physics Department at the University of Sussex. Sussex has been a long-standing and highly valued member of the UK ATLAS community, making major contributions to the success of the experiment while training generations of students and early-career researchers. The Sussex ATLAS group has developed internationally recognised expertise in trigger systems, precision top-quark measurements and searches for physics beyond the Standard Model, has played important leadership roles within the collaboration, and will play a crucial role in the HL-LHC era. The proposed redundancies extend well beyond ATLAS, threatening a vibrant and internationally recognised group of researchers working across particle physics, astrophysics and theory at Sussex. These proposals come at a critical time, when supporting internationally competitive research groups and training the next generation of scientists is more important than ever. I therefore urge the University of Sussex to reconsider these proposals in light of the department's scientific excellence and its importance to the future of UK physics. |
| Arttu Rajantie | Imperial College London | Sussex is a leading UK centre for Physics and Astronomy. It is where I held my first postdoctoral position, having been attracted by the high quality of work in its theoretical particle physics group. Therefore, it is thanks to Sussex that I am now working in the UK. More recently, I served as an external examiner for the undergraduate Physics programmes and was equally impressed by the department’s teaching. These proposed redundancies are deeply short‑sighted and risk causing lasting damage not only to the University of Sussex, but to the UK’s scientific strength as a whole. |
| Gary Bernstein | University of Pennsylvania | Many Sussex astronomers were our valued colleagues on the Dark Energy Survey, and contribute strongly to the educational mission of the University. |
| Justin Evans | University of Manchester | Sussex has spent decades establishing itself as an international leader in particle physics and astronomy. Cutting a third of its academics would squander that status overnight. |
| Dr David Clements | Imperial College London | Loss of staff at Sussex could put major international projects, such as NASA and ESA space missions, at risk, which would be a major reputational problem for both Sussex and the UK |
| Malcolm Fairbairn | Kings College London | Decisions like this damage the credibility of UK institutions as a destination for the best researchers. You will always be able to recruit young academics. The question you should ask yourselves is will this behaviour help you attract the best academics? |
| Andrew Pilkington | Head of Particle Physics, University of Manchester | I was shocked to hear this news. Colleagues at Sussex are making major contributions to multiple international particle physics experiments. The proposed cuts are short sighted and undeserved. |
| David Bacon | Director, Institute of Cosmology and Gravitation, University of Portsmouth | These outstanding physicists at the University of Sussex have a major impact on the international stage. We are honoured to have them as our highly respected neighbours. They are an irreplaceable, tremendous credit to the University; I urge the University's leaders to reconsider this course of action. |
| Timothy Clifton | QMUL | Sussex is one the UK's leading universities for cosmology research, and you should not be considering any cuts in this flagship research group. |
| Anne Green | University of Nottingham | The Sussex Astronomy and Particle Physics groups do world-leading research and teach subjects that are extremely popular with Physics students. Cuts this large would be extremely difficult to recover from. |
| José Maneira | University of Lisbon | I have collaborated closely with colleagues from the University of Sussex since more than 20 years, in both Neutrino and High Energy Physics. This proposed reduction is very unfair and short-sighted. It will deeply affect the lives of an academic and research community that has dedicated years, decades, to building a dynamic and internationally recognised Physics Department. It will also of course affect those that remain, and the reputation of the University as a whole. Such a blunt cut will be very hard, probably impossible, to recover from. I would hope that there is still a chance to find alternatives to such a grave mistake. |
| Andreas Brandhuber | Queen Mary University of London | It is hard to believe that this internationally recognised group is under threat of redundancy. Such shortsighted cuts will cause irreparable damage to the reputation of Sussex. |
| Pasquale Di Bari | University of Southampton | This would be an unjustified short-sighted decision undermining the whole UK physics and astronomy community power and credibility to attract talented people at all levels. It will certainly have a knock on effect. I am not aware of any other world physics and astronomy department of the top level of Sussex where such a decision has been taken. Please reconsider it. |
| Peter Millington | University of Manchester | Short-sighted, knee-jerk affronts on PPAN science such as this represent an embarrassing own goal for the higher education sector, the UK's science base, its global scientific leadership, and the economic growth that this drives. |
| Christopher Clark | Space Telescope Science Institute / ESA | These cuts would be the university cutting off its nose to spite its face. The loss of teaching labour, research standing, and overall talent, will drive away students, funding, and reputation for years to come. |
| Susan Cartwright | University of Sheffield | As others have said, this seems like a needless and self-destructive attack on a world-leading research group. While STFC is currently experiencing financial difficulties, there is no reason to believe that this situation will persist, whereas such a drastic cut in the personnel of a university group will cause damage that cannot be easily rectified when the financial climate changes. Also, again as others have said, astronomy and particle physics are known to be major factors in attracting undergraduates to study physics - has the University carried out any modelling regarding the likely impact on future student recruitment (and therefore income)? One suspects not. Furthermore, cuts of this size initiate a vicious cycle - fewer academics implies more teaching per academic, which implies less research time per academic, which impacts on future research income. In addition, particle physics and astronomy are two of the most international of research disciplines, so the sacking of prominent researchers in these fields cannot help but have a negative impact on the University's international reputation. Universities throughout the UK are currently under pressure financially, but targeting an internationally respected research group seems entirely counter-productive. |
| William Barter | University of Edinburgh | The Particle Physics group in Sussex has a very high international standing having led some of the most important studies at the Large Hadron Collider and beyond; these proposed cuts would be a devastating loss to the wider Particle Physics community. |
| Henning Flaecher | University of Bristol | Incredibly short sighted and reputationally damaging. Particle and Astro Physics are still what attracts many students to physics at university. |
| Jerome Gauntlett | Imperial College, London | The proposed cuts, including the dismissal of internationally renowned scientists, are extraordinarily short-sighted. They will inflict lasting damage on the international reputation of the University of Sussex and further undermine confidence in UK higher education more generally. It is profoundly disheartening to see academic excellence and scholarship treated with such contempt. The University's senior management should urgently rethink this course of action. |
| Einan Gardi | University of Edinburgh | Shocking news. Sussex managed to build an impressive group -- don't break it! |
| Christoph Englert | University of Manchester | Academics in Physics and Astronomy at Sussex have established the University as an internationally recognised institution for research and teaching. |
| Jeff Forshaw | University of Manchester | The theoretical and experimental particle physics in Sussex is world class. I am shocked to hear of this. |
| John March-Russell | Oxford University | This is an extremely poorly thought-out proposal by Sussex. It is likely a direct result of the recent failures of the UK Government (the UKRI & STFC funding councils) to understand how excellent physics research and education actually works and to provide a stable funding environment, rather than the very substantial cuts we are experiencing. Research in PPAN is one of the primary attractors of good students into STEM, not just physics, as often youngsters get early motivation to study science via the excitement of PPAN topics, and then later move into adjacent subjects such engineering, medicine, computing, statistics, or mathematics. Moreover, many of the world's top AI and Machine Learning researchers and practitioners were PPAN students or PhD's, and start their careers in PPAN (for instance, look at the leading figures at Anthropic). They then join top AI companies, or take part joint industry-university work. I know this by direct experience of my past PPAN undergraduate and PhD students, many of whom now work in this area. Even by narrow short-term economic criteria the UK Government is making exceptionally foolish decisions, and the long-term impacts on the health and vitality of the UK economy and UK research (both in universities and outside) will be profound. |
| Ed Daw | The University of Sheffield | Like Nottingham, Sussex opts to go down the foolish route of downsizing a subject in an important growth area. The sizes of student cohorts wax and wane; just because less students are signing up to X this year doesn't mean that next year you won't get 1.2X, and several years later 3X. A University is just that - a University. It is a seat of learning. A corporate model for running a seat of learning is wholly inappropriate, and a modern trend that I am looking forward to going out of fashion. There is also the concern that this is a race to the bottom; the remaining staff will have much higher teaching and admin loads, so they won't be as effective at research, and will therefore bring in less grant income, so the money you are saving by downsizing you will almost certainly lose through this mechanism in short order. Please reconsider this foolish proposal. |
| Simon Driver | University of Western Australia | As a frequent visitor to University of Sussex it is shocking to hear of the proposed savage cuts to the Physics and Astronomy group. This is an extremely well balanced, talented and active group involved in most of the global frontier science programs. These cuts will be a self-inflicted wound happening at exactly the time we as a society are desperate for Physics literate graduates, and physics based solutions. Any university without a strong active Physics department is not a University worth attending. |
| Dave Sutherland | University of Glasgow | PPAN academics at Sussex do top-tier, internationally recognised research. The proposed redundancies would significantly harm the field and the University's reputation. |
| Steve Cunnington | University of Portsmouth | Temporary funding pressures should not drive permanent strategic damage. PPAN funding can and likely will be restored through sustained lobbying, but cuts of this scale dismantle expertise that cannot be quickly rebuilt. These actions risk leaving the University of Sussex unable to fully recover its strength in Physics and Astronomy when the funding landscape improves. |
| Valya Khoze | IPPP Durham University | Strong support for Sussex Physics & Astronomy colleagues! |
| Tim Burns | Swansea University | The proposed cuts would do irreversible damage to the future of research in Physics and Astronomy at the University of Sussex, which has a well-deserved reputation as a UK leader in the field. |
| Sophie Newman | University of Portsmouth | Many of the most talented collaborators I know are at risk of losing their jobs and this would be a huge loss to the scientific community, both in Sussex and elsewhere. |
| Roman Zwicky | Edinburgh University | Such decisions are not a solution but rather the beginning of a much bigger problem. Namely, irreversible damage in reputation, impacting future hiring in staff and students on a national and international level. Besides that, Sussex particle physics is a world class research group and short-term problems with STFC-funding do not justify such drastic measures either. Shocking and shortsighted! |
| Seshadri Nadathur | University of Portsmouth | This is a very difficult time for universities everywhere, but cuts like this are self-defeating. A department that imposes compulsory redundancies like this will not attract the best research talent, and will not only lose future research income but also the harm the university's image and prestige, bringing lower admissions too. |
| Jonas Rademacker | University of Bristol | An act of vandalism against fundamental science, against an internationally leading group of scientist, and against the University of Sussex itself. Whoever proposed that should sack themselves. |
| Prof. Bogdan Strfanski | City St. George's, University of London | Short-sighted cuts to fundamental science will significantly erode the international standing of Sussex. Cuts to basic research funding while subsidising private companies using tax payer money risk further undermining the knowledge-increasing societal pathways at at time when it is more vital than ever for the UK to remain a world leader in a science based innovation economy. |
| Aaron S.G Robotham | ICRAR-UWA | I’ve had the good fortune to work with astronomers from the University of Sussex for nearly 20 years. It is without doubt one of the premier science institutes in the country, and the astronomy faculty are a beacon of excellence both nationally and internationally. It is extremely distressing to think they aren’t fully appreciated by senior management within their own institution. Building a group of this stature takes multiple generations of concerted effort and consistent support. Unfortunately, it only takes a few months to completely destroy this legacy for good. I fear Sussex could become another national victim of wrongheaded government prioritisation, and shortsighted commercialisation by University management. It’s never too late to rethink a terrible decision, and I hope somebody with influence pulls back from this potential disaster. |
| Jonathan McDowell | Durham University | The astronomy group at the University of Sussex has had a worldwide reputation for excellence for half a century at least. Slashing it is a travesty. |
| Antonio Padilla | University of Nottingham | The cosmologists at Sussex are, without doubt, world leading. Going after them and other brilliant Physicists is an act of academic sabotage. We know all too well how they are feeling right now. Modern university leaders in the UK just talk amongst themselves about the latest fad, having lost all understanding of what universities are really for: the pursuit of knowledge and understanding - something the Physicists at Sussex do brilliantly. They should be celebrated - not handed redundancy letters. Solidarity to them. Shame on management |
| Xan Morice-Atkinson | Institute of Cosmology and Gravitation, University of Portsmouth | Redundancies aren't the answer and will cost more in the long-term. |
| Alex Hall | University of Edinburgh | It is shocking that such a world leading centre for physics and astronomy faces redundancies. This is part of a deeply concerning trend across UK Higher Education whereby departments engaged in high-profile STEM innovation and teaching are bearing the brunt of strategic blunders by university senior management. |
| Pavel Buividovich | University of Liverpool | Very short-sighted decision that would be impossible to reverse if implemented and would significantly damage the University's reputation and rankings |
| David Schaich | University of Liverpool | The long-term costs of reducing the world-class Particle Physics and Astronomy research groups at Sussex will dwarf any short-term savings that may be obtained. These costs range from undermining student recruitment (as documented by the Institute of Physics) to losing out on research grant income (from the ERC and other UKRI funding streams such as quantum, in addition to the STFC PPAN portfolio), alongside broader damage to the institution's reputation and rankings. |
| Gregory Soyez | CNRS, CEA Saclay | Physics and Astronomy have always held a central role in fundamental research. The group at the University of Sussex is an important part of this endeavour. It has repeatedly proven its value at the international level with several key contributions. This effort deserves all the support it can get to maintain such a high-quality activity. |
| Gerard Milburn | University of Sussex | |
| Dr Agamemnon Sfondilis (PhD in Theoretical Particle Physics) | This is a deeply disturbing time for physics and science more broadly. These cuts will not only result in the loss of brilliant researchers whose work could have made significant contributions to our understanding of the world, but they will also send a damaging message to future generations. As opportunities in physics diminish, fewer young people will choose to pursue careers in science. The long-term consequences of this loss of talent and ambition will be felt far beyond our institutions, weakening the future of scientific discovery and innovation. | |
| David Cussans | University of Bristol | Great people doing great research. |
| David Britton | University of Glasgow | For many years, Sussex has been a valued contributor to the ATLAS experiment, and to the global computing infrastructure required to process the data, through the GridPP and WLCG projects. The physics extracted is recognised as the highest Particle Physics priority within the UK and Europe: It makes absolutely no sense for cuts to target this area. |
| David Wands | Professor of Cosmology, University of Portsmouth | Having started my academic career in the Astronomy Centre at the University of Sussex, I know what a special place Sussex is, attracting top researchers from around the world. As a graduate student, I was able to learn from world-leading scientists who have helped shape our understanding of the cosmos. Drastic cuts to the academic staff in physics and astronomy at Sussex, threaten to undermine the UK's research leadership and our ability to attract and educate the next generation of scientists. |
| Bipasha Chakraborty | University of Southampton | Sussex particle and astro physics groups have made a global impact through their world-class research and teaching. This proposition will be a huge loss for UK's fundamental science. |
| Maxim Pospelov | University of Minnesota | |
| Prof. Daniela Bortoletto, Head of the Subdepartment of Particle Physics | University of Oxford | |
| Konstantinos Perridis | University of Bristol | An astonishing act of vandalism by Sussex's management. PPAN research areas are what attract the lions share of students into physics, generate technological innovation, and train industry's workforce. This proposal will solve nothing both in the short- or long-term. The only thing it achieves is to demonstrate to the world how incompetent Sussex's management is. |
| Mrinal Dasgupta | University of Manchester | |
| Kieran Wood | University of Nottingham | This seems an unbelievably short-sighted decision that is tantamount to academic vandalism. As others have said, the Particle Physics and Astronomy departments at Sussex are genuinely world-leading. Any short-term savings made will soon be offset by the various knock-on effects that such a decision guarantees for the reputation of the university and in turn its future recruitment of both students and researchers, ability to secure grant funding etc etc. Full solidarity from Nottingham, where we know all too well how important it is to stand up for the fundamental purpose of what a university should be, a purpose those holding the reins in universities across the UK would do well to remember. |
| Evie L. Papadopoulou | BeDimensional S.p.A. | I graduated from MAPS in 1996. |
| Dan Pryer | Sussex Physics Alumni | |
| Nick Werren | Heriot-Watt University | As an alumni of Sussex and a former physics undergraduate, the idea that the fantastic staff in the physics department are at risk of redundancy really worries me - this is a world class institution for a reason! |
| Martin Jones | Francis Crick Institute | Alumnus from MPhys 1997 intake and DPhil from 2002 intake |
| Dr Sunayana Bhargava | Observatoire de la Côte d'Azur | The Sussex Astronomy Centre is a world-class institute for both research and teaching. Its staff have made key contributions to major missions and experiments, including Planck, JWST, and the Dark Energy Survey—work that has enabled the training and recruitment of countless PhD students (including myself) and postdocs. Any proposed cuts would not only have a severe impact on individual staff and their livelihoods, but also risk causing lasting damage to the university’s long-established reputation. I strongly urge the University leadership to rule out compulsory redundancies and to protect those who form the backbone of astronomy and physics research in the UK. |
| Emanuele Mendicelli | University of Liverpool | These proposed cuts are deeply damaging and risk dismantling world-leading research that has taken decades to build. Weakening particle physics and astronomy at Sussex would not only harm the University but also undermine the UK's scientific strength, innovation, and international reputation. |
| Kimberly Palladino | University of Oxford | Sussex's particle physics and astronomy faculty are excellent researchers and instructors. From developing new technologies, holding leadership roles in international experiments, and hosting large conferences to training the next generation of scientists at the UG and PG levels, they have proved their worth in ways that a short-sighted current policy by the university may not recognize. |
| Peter Ratoff | Lancaster University | My own institution has gone through a similar exercise recently, although with smaller percentage cuts to physics staff and no specific targeting of STFC science, but what really dismays me about this proposition is that instead of helping their PPAN staff to fight the putative STFC funding reductions, the Sussex senior management appear to be using it as a justification for making these excessive cuts. We have a government in flux at the moment and it is not a done deal that the STFC cuts are guaranteed to run so deep, so why assume the worst case scenario? Furthermore, there is abundant evidence that STFC science is the number one attractor of students onto physics degree courses, so slashing the staff providing this reliable 'recruiting sergeant' is self-destructive in the extreme. |
| Iacopo Vivarelli | University of Bologna | I have worked in PPAN at Sussex for many years and have seen first-hand the quality of its research. Sussex's contributions to particle physics are internationally recognised and, in several areas, genuinely world-leading. This excellence has been built over decades and has contributed significantly to the University's research standing. The proposed redundancies have already caused disproportionate reputational damage to a research community that has done so much to enhance Sussex's international standing. Reputation is built over many years through sustained hard work, but it can be damaged very quickly. Once lost, it is extraordinarily difficult to rebuild. For what it is worth, I urge the University leadership to consider alternative ways of addressing the University's financial challenges. The current situation was, in my view, largely foreseeable and could have been better managed by the current and previous VC. It would be a profound mistake to address it by dismantling one of Sussex's strongest research communities. |
| Patricia Conde Muíño | Instituto Superior Técnico, Universidade de Lisboa | The Particle Physics group in the University of Sussex is an international leader and highly respected. These redundancies will necessarily reduce the impact of the University and damage the image for a long time. |
| Graham White | Southampton | |
| Paul Fuller | Alumni | |
| Joanne Sheppard | Howard Hughes Medical Institute | |
| Jim Brooke | University of Bristol | |
| Aaron Bundock | University of Bristol | |
| Robert Pisarski | Brookhaven National Laboratory | |
| Daniel Baig | University of Southampton | |
| Thomas Harvey | University of Manchester | |
| Jean-Baptiste Melin | CEA Paris-Saclay | |
| Daniel Cutting | Iambic Therapeutics | I began my career at the University of Sussex and the education I received with the Department of Theoretical Particle Physics was world class. It would be a great loss to lose any member of this fantastic institution. |
| Jonathan Pritchard | Max Planck Institute for Radio Astronomy/Imperial College | |
| Philip Holloway | University of Portsmouth | |
| Dr Deaglan Bartlett | University of Oxford | |
| Philip Harris | University of Sussex (Emeritus) | |
| Gudrun Hiller | TU Dortmund/CERN | |
| Zak Williams | University of Bristol | |
| Seb D. | As a university very highly rated for research excellence in physics, it’s a very short sighted move to enforce these redundancies! This research excellence accolade was what encouraged me to choose Sussex University to study physics. With this under threat with the redundancies it’ will undoubtedly affect admissions and quality! From an Alumni | |
| Max Peel | Alumni | |
| Simon Williams | Institute for Particle Physics Phenomenology | |
| Francesca Chadha-Day | Durham University | |
| Frank Krauss | Durham University | |
| Francesca Di Lodovico | King's College London | |
| Matteo Marcoli | University of Durham | |
| Dr Aidin Masouminia | Ippp/Durham | |
| Michael G | As a proud physics graduate I'm extremely disappointed to see that Physics & Astronomy is once again being targeted for disproportionate cuts. The recent fall in physics subject rankings should make the university want to increase investment, not cut it further. | |
| Georgina O’Callaghan | ||
| Yassi Vaziri | I am a Sussex university physics alumni and I think the knowledge and excellence of the people working in these departments is indispensable. I remember my open day visits, and the astronomy department was the reason that I chose Sussex university, due to the passion shared by Kathy and the team, and the experience the lecturers brought. My final year project also gave me invaluable experience of working within a world class project, which again was a driver of my choosing Sussex, and would not have been possible without the lecturers and lab technicians in the particle physics department. I strongly advocate for looking at this department fairly and valuing the staff and team who have provided value to so many students throughout the years. | |
| Dr Samantha Youles | University of Portsmouth | |
| Seshadri Nadathur | University of Portsmouth | This is a very difficult time for universities everywhere, but cuts like this are self-defeating. A department that imposes compulsory redundancies like this will not attract the best research talent, and will not only lose future research income but also the harm the university's image and prestige, bringing lower admissions too. |
| Neel Shah | University of Portsmouth | |
| Edouard Marchais | EPITA | |
| Danny van Dyk | Durham University & IPPP | |
| Emyr Clement | University of Bristol | |
| Joachim Harnois-Deraps | Newcastle University | |
| Matthew Rochford | University of Southampton | |
| Louis Quilley | University of Manchester | |
| Miguel Crispim Romao | IPPP, Durham | |
| Chris Harrison | Newcastle University | |
| Apostolos Pilaftsis | University of Manchester | Your local UCU trade union should be informed for further actions beyond this open letter and lobbying for hard science at the governmental level. |
| Sophie Jewell | University of Oxford | |
| Thomas Williams | University of Manchester | |
| Daniel Mortlock | Imperial College London | |
| Will Percival | University of Waterloo | |
| Benjamin Floyd | University of Portsmouth | This is a tragedy. The cuts to physics and astronomy research in the UK is directly damaging people's lives. As a nation if we continue going down this road we may never recover the scientific leadership and knowledge in our academic system. I personally have been struggling to find a new position, and as I am an immigrant, will be forced to leave the country I have called my home for the past several years. UKRI and STFC must reverse these funding cuts or we risk losing nearly all of the academic sector in the UK within the next couple of years. |
| Mark Williams | University of Edinburgh | |
| Priscilla Corsi | University of Southampton | Shame on you. A university is a place of knowledge and such actions will only turn it into the Temple. |
| Nelson Rebelo | Sussex Physics & Astronomy | (20-24 alum) |
| Philip Burrows | University of Oxford | |
| Mao Zeng | University of Edinburgh | |
| Prof. Maria Ubiali | University of Cambridge | |
| Elena Colangeli | University of Portsmouth | |
| Anton Ilderton | University of Edinburgh | |
| Ken Mimasu | University of Southampton | |
| Teppei Katori | King's College London | |
| Laura Iacconi | Queen Mary University of London | |
| Sally Shaw | University of Edinburgh | |
| Sophie Renner | University of Glasgow | |
| Prof. Dr. Cora Uhlemann | Bielefeld University | |
| Lauro Moscardini | DIFA, University of Bologna | |
| Simone Marzani | Università di Genova | |
| Martin Gorbahn | University of Liverpool | |
| Timur Sypchenko | IPPP | |
| James Gillanders | University of Oxford | |
| Jack Fannon | University of Sheffield | |
| Dr Stephen Jones | IPPP / Durham University | |
| Andreas Jüttner | CERN / University of Southampton | |
| Isabelle Darlington | UCL | |
| Adam Softley-Brown | University of Sheffield | |
| Enrico Zunino | University of Edinburgh | |
| Aiden Razey | ||
| Samuel Abreu | CERN/The University of Edinburgh | |
| Daniel Maitre | Durham University | |
| Matthew Hull | University of Portsmouth | This is an excellent department that deserves to be treated fairly. University management should consider themselves redundant. |
| David Rosario | Newcastle University | |
| Costis Papageorgakis | Queen Mary University of London | |
| Sanjaye Ramgoolam | Queen Mary University of London | |
| Alon Faraggi | University of Liverpool | |
| Lois Flower | University of Liverpool | |
| Andrew Akeroyd | University of Southampton | |
| Steffen Schumann | University of Göttingen | |
| Farid Ibrahimov | University of Liverpool | |
| Marika Asgari | Newcastle University | Solidarity. We need a national fight to save higher education. Physics and astro are the first to be sacrificed in this fight but won't be the last. |
| David Vegh | Queen Mary University of London | |
| Debasish Banerjee | University of Southampton | PPAN subjects are always used to inspire talented students to join physics programmes. These students once trained have gone ahead to contribute so much to the society, industry, as well as basic research. The UK has extremely well-established and internationally reputed physics departments and these cuts will totally compromise the research and teaching infrastructure. The Group at Sussex is well-known for their achievements in PPAN subjects, and this is really a bad decision. We hope that the Senior Management at the University of Sussex withdraws such plans for staff cuts. |
| Yannick Ulrich | University of Liverpool | |
| Alba Soto Ontoso | Universidad de Granada | |
| Donal O’Connell | University of Edinburgh | |
| Prof. Chris Clarkson | Queen Mary University of London | |
| Mark Constable | University of Sussex MAPS 1990-93 Physics with Astrophysics (Project Supervisor Dr RC Smith) | It is imperative that Physics and Astronomy is protected, via maximum staff retention. The subject allows graduates to follow an enormous number of career paths, as well as providing vital research into the nature of our only universe. |
| Sean McGee | University of Birmingham | |
| Prof Emeritus Bill Spence | Queen Mary University of London | |
| Prof Jenni Smillie | University of Edinburgh | |
| Jack Shergold | University of Liverpool | |
| Suhail Dhawan | University of Birmingham | |
| Matthew Ward | Southampton University | |
| Thomas Mohaupt | University of Liverpool | My strongest support to the colleagues at Sussex. Making short time savings by destroying accumulated expertise and prestige would be a tragic mistake and inflict lasting damage. |
| Ray Rivers | Imperial College London | Yet again, castrating PPAN science such as this represents an embarrassing own goal. The Sussex particle and astrophysics groups have made a global impact through their world-class research. These draconian cuts will dismantle expertise that cannot be rebuilt easily. The outcome will be a loss of the best research talent at Sussex, not only with implications for future research income but will also seriously damage the university's image and prestige and, more generally, given the importance of the Sussex groups, the UK's science base. |
| Matteo Cacciari | Université Paris Cité | |
| Ricardo Monteiro | Queen Mary University of London | |
| Harry Simpson | University of Sussex | |
| Mattthew Needham | University of Edinburgh | |
| Thomas Teubner | University of Liverpool | |
| Graham Smith | University of Birmingham | |
| Aidan Wright | University of Liverpool | |
| Giulio Fabbian | Institut d'Astrophysique Spatiale, CNRS/Université Paris Saclay | The Sussex Astronomy Centre is a globally renowned institution for both research and teaching. As a postdoctoral researcher, I benefited greatly from its high-quality, intellectually stimulating environment, rooted in values of diversity and inclusion. My time at Sussex was fundamental to my academic career and boosted it greatly. Any proposed cuts risk causing lasting damage to the university’s long-standing international reputation and to staff livelihoods. I strongly urge the University leadership to reject compulsory redundancies and to safeguard those who form the backbone of astronomy and physics research in the UK. |
| Ben Gompertz | University of Birmingham | |
| Nicola McConkey | Queen Mary University of London | |
| Dr Alasdair Price | Siloton | As an alumnus of Sussex, I now run a medical device company developing portable eye scanners to better diagnose and monitor chronic health conditions. We have a number of world firsts to our name and are the market leaders in photonic chip optical coherence tomography. Much of that success can be traced back to the education I received at Sussex. Although I did not pursue a career in particle physics or astronomy, I frequently find myself using skills and techniques that were taught to me by academics in these groups. The department's focus on providing a broad but detailed education has also been key to receiving career opportunities outside of my day job. This includes serving as a member of the Institute of Physics' Awards Committee, which selects recipients for some of the most prestigious awards in physics, and which I would not be equipped to do without the breadth of education that Sussex was able to deliver. While the university may not be proposing the complete elimination of Particle Physics or Astronomy from the department, cutting 35% of staff will severely limit the diversity of skills and knowledge that is available, causing significant damage to undergraduate education. In addition, the research done by particle physicists and astronomers at Sussex is of enormous scientific and economic importance. Their work ranges from the fundamental (without which we will be unable to develop the technologies of tomorrow) through to the applied (already, there are high-profile examples of technology transfer from these groups in areas such drought management and medical imaging). Therefore, going ahead with the proposed redundancies would be a monumental act of institutional, national, and humanitarian self harm. |
| Gabriele Travaglini | Queen Mary University of London | This is an outstanding research group whose work is recognised internationally. The expertise being lost cannot simply be rebuilt in a few years. Particle physics and astronomy are also among the disciplines that produce highly skilled graduates with the analytical and computational abilities that drive innovation across the wider economy. A reduction of this scale would be a serious loss for Sussex, causing significant lasting damage to the University’s reputation, as well as for UK science and future students. |
| Alessandra Buonanno | Max Planck Institute for Gravitational Physics | |
| Dr Philippa Cole | Queen Mary University of London | |
| Jacob Kempster | Faculty AI | As a former Senior Research Scientist in Sussex's School of Physics and Astronomy, I am shocked and horrified to hear of these cuts |
| Sam Dolan | University of Sheffield | |
| Dr Jim Dobson | King’s College London | |
| Anthony Doyle | University of Glasgow | |
| Stephane Werner | Durham University | |
| Oliver Gould | University of Nottingham | |
| Alexander Nicol | Sussex Alumnus (Physics) 2010-2014 | |
| Mark Sargent | EPFL | I am very concerned and disappointed about the planned redundancies that will deeply affect my former faculty colleagues in Physics & Astronomy. As has been noted in other comments, this risks a race to the bottom, disproportionately affecting academics who already had a comparatively high teaching and admin load compared to other universities. The current teaching and research staff of the Sussex Astronomy Centre have played key roles in leading astrophysics missions and surveys in the recent past. They continue (or are preparing) to do so in leading current or forthcoming projects like 4MOST, DES, JWST, PRIMA, Simons Observatory or the SKA. The U. of Sussex should invest in these valued and dedicated staff members, and give them opportunities to thrive, rather than threatening them with redundancies! |
| Dr Jared Jeyaretnam | University of Nottingham | These cuts are disgraceful. UK research in particle physics and astronomy has led to great insights not just for theoretical physics, but many practical applications too. It would be incredibly shortsighted to destroy academic excellence like this, and it will not help Sussex’s finances in the long term (as we’re seeing at Nottingham; solidarity from your friends and colleagues there!). |
| Elena gramellini | University of Manchester | |
| Gert Aarts | Swansea University | Compulsory and voluntary redundancies in fundamental physics are not a long-term solution to the financial crisis affecting so many UK universities. |
| Scott Clay | University of Sussex (Alumni) | |
| Veronica Sanz | University of Valencia | |
| Adi Armoni | Swansea University | |
| Lucas Porth | University of Bonn | It is shocking to hear that the staff at such world-class groups at Sussex is facing compulsory redundancies. While acknowledging the difficult financial situation at universities, reducing the scientific staff will have devastating impact in the long term. |
| Kristin Lohwasser | University of Sheffield | The research in Sussex is world leading in specific areas of particle physics - it's shocking that such a department is put under a threat of redundancies |
| Pritha Paul | Ludwig Maximilian University of Munich | |
| Giovanni Granata | Institute of Cosmology and Gravitation, University of Portsmouth | |
| Enrico Camporeale | Queen Mary University of London | |
| Lucia Fonseca de la Bella | ||
| Gianmassimo Tasinato | Swansea University | |
| Professor Paul Soler | University of Glasgow | This is a short-sighted and highly unfortunate decision. As a former external examiner at Sussex, I can attest to the professionalism and quality of the staff in Physics and Astronomy, particularly those in the Particle Physics and Astronomy research areas. I believe that this is a decision of dubious rationale. Why would you reduce the number of staff that are carrying out world class particle physics research, and delivering world-leading results at the frontiers of physics and astronomy? This will damage the international reputation of the university in the eyes of colleagues and students. It is only by attracting excellent students from the UK and abroad that the university will be able to dig itself out of the hole that it created. Reducing staff in these world-class areas will only reduce the appeal of Sussex as a student destination, creating a downward spiral that will lead to more jobs losses. This is a flawed and highly detrimental decision to the interests of the University of Sussex. Senior management should be ashamed of themselves! |
| Dimitri Verai | FoSEM student | |
| Adrian Bevan | Queen Mary University of London | I urge the senior management at the University of Sussex to reconsider its position and ensure that it is taking a long term view for financial stability, rather than a short term reactive view that could undo decades of hard work in building reputation in this area. While I fully appreciate that there are challenges in the current climate facing many universities, singling out the PPAN scientists on world leading projects who have a solid track record of producing high quality results, and who also feed UK SMEs with talented graduates to help drive economic growth (among other things), is not a sound move. It is, in my humble opinion, a reflection of bad strategy, driven by short term goals and misguided thinking. I urge the University of Sussex to reflect on what solutions might look like with a view to longer term strategic thinking. With the lens (or spectre) of the upcoming REF, would it not be better to think in terms of research outputs and quality of the work done, rather than to wield an axe on mainstream areas of Physics? If these short sighted cuts go ahead it will be hard for academics, current students and prospective students to take Sussex seriously. The curiosity driven science that you are proposing to disproportionately cut drives many young people into STEM at universities. Have you done a credible impact assessment of what these proposed cuts might do to your recruitment? |
| Phillip Lichfield | University of Glasgow | The kind of physics pursued by the Theoretical, Experimental Particle Physics, and Astronomy groups are exactly the topics that draw in physics students considering where do their undergraduate study, and partnership in the large collaborations common to these fields help is a boon to a university’s international profile. The University of Sussex surely benefits from their presence in comparison to other universities of a similar size, and to start dismantling an advantage that has been constructed over decades seems extremely short sighted. |
| Kazuya Koyama | University of Portsmouth | |
| Mitesh Patel | Imperial College London | |
| Micah Annor | Alumni (Physics dept) | |
| Donough Regan | Sussex University Alumni | This shortsighted proposal would damage the reputation of Sussex University and UK academia substantially. Having spent almost 7 years as a postdoc researcher at Sussex, I know first hand the world class quality of research, dedication to teaching and the community ethos of the Physics and Astronomy department. To say I'm appalled at this announcement would be a gross understatement |
| Sergey Burdin | University of Liverpool | I would like to express my strongest support to our colleagues in the Particle Physics Group at the University of Sussex. |
| Grace Marten | University of Sussex - Physics and Astronomy Alum | |
| Congkao Wen | Queen Mary University of London | |
| Stefan Schacht | IPPP, Durham University | |
| Anna Cibinel | Former U. of Sussex Physics & Astronomy employee | |
| Jamie Sharpington | I am a Sussex Astrophysics alumni, having studied there 2012-2016. I had a truly brilliant time, learning so much from the wonderful staff, and making friends for life. To hear that future generations may not get the opportunity that I had is a truly upsetting and extremely worrying way to mark the ten year anniversary of my graduation. | |
| Pedro Carrilho | University of Hertfordshire | |
| David Mulryne | Queen Mary University of London | |
| James Bolton | University of Nottingham | |
| Scott Melville | Queen Mary University of London | |
| Carlos Nunez | Swansea University | I echo the comments written by colleagues. It is a very bad thing to play with people's lives as the SMT are doing lately in UK universities |
| Anna Sfyrla | University of Geneva | The proposal to reduce these core areas of physics is deeply short-sighted. A leading physics department should include the disciplines that address some of the most fundamental unanswered questions about the nature of the Universe. The Experimental Particle Physics group at Sussex is internationally recognised for its contributions to the ATLAS experiment at CERN. The loss of this expertise would weaken international research efforts in collider physics. Fundamental research of this kind is not a luxury; it is an essential part of a vibrant and internationally competitive physics department. |
| Prof Konstantinos Dimopoulos | Lancaster University | |
| Rodolfo Russo | Queen Mary University of London | |
| Stephan Eisenhardt | University of Edinburgh | I agree to and support the various comments made above about the excellence of the group, the shortsightedness of the proposal and the damages done if realised. |
| Federico Leo Redi | U. of Bergamo, Italy | |
| Omar Almaini | University of Nottingham | The management at Sussex should be ashamed of themselves. The Particle Physics and Astronomy groups at Sussex are world leading. These short-sighted cuts will cause long-term reputational damage to the university, and would make it very difficult to attract talented scientists in the future. |
| Alkistis Pourtsidou | University of Edinburgh | |
| Peter Bussey | University of Glasgow | This seems very short-sighted. These are areas that are particularly effective in attracting young people into physics. |
| Chris Allton | Swansea University | |
| Biagio Lucini | Queen Mary University of London | |
| Carsten van de Bruck | The University of Sheffield | |
| Karolos Potamianos | University of Warwick | |
| Pedro Fernandes | Heidelberg University | |
| Matthew Hill | Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory | An a Sussex physics alumnus it brings me great personal sadness to see such pressure on what has always been an incredibly supportive, creative and talented department. What Sussex is entrusted with here is truly rare and valuable, and damage to it will diminish the university and its unique culture well beyond the lifetime of the current crisis. My very best wishes to everyone who makes Sussex so great, and the best of luck for a positive outcome. |
| Christopher Conselice | University of Manchester | |
| Matthew Buican | Queen Mary University of London | |
| Baptiste Ravina | CERN | |
| Isaac Tutusaus | Institute of Space Sciences (ICE-CSIC, Barcelona) | |
| Pier Stefano Corasaniti | CNRS, Paris Observatory | My support to colleagues at Sussex, where I did my PhD in the Theoretical Physics group more than 20 years ago. Physics at Sussex has given more to the University, than what it has received over these many years. |
| Brax Philippe | IPhT Paris-Saclay University | |
| Abbey Waldron | QMUL | |
| Armin Reichold | University of Oxford | The proposed redundancies would allready in the medium term greatly reduce the success of Sussex University. |
| Vivian Poulin | LUPM, CRNS & Université de Montpellier | |
| Jay Nesbitt | University of Glasgow | |
| Erik Panzer | University of Oxford | |
| Madeline Colver | University of Bristol | |
| Harry Russell | Physics Graduate | Physics at Sussex is comprised of endless talent and amazing lecturers. It would be sad to see it fall. |
| Mark Owen | The University of Glasgow | |
| Benedict Bahr-Kalus | INAF Observatory of Turin | |
| James Coleman-Mills | University of Liverpool | |
| Martin Rey | University of Bath | |
| Fabian Zierler | Technical University of Munich | |
| Katerina Karakoulaki | University of Bristol | |
| Gary Robertson | University of Glasgow | |
| Daniel Roberts | University of Southampton | |
| Jake Taylor | University of Oxford | |
| Dirk Peter van der Werf | Swansea | |
| Dr Richard Bates | The University of Glasgow | |
| Raphaela Wutte | University of Southampton | |
| Dimitrios Irodotou | The Institute of Cancer Research | |
| Stijn Wuyts | University of Bath | |
| Sakura Schafer-Nameki | Oxford | |
| Gerasimos Rigopoulos | Newcastle University | It is beyond comprehension that a group of internationally recognised people doing top tier research and passing scientific knowledge to the next generation so successfully, faces redundancies by a university. University “leaders” have truly betrayed what should have been their mission. |
| Adam Shaw | University of Nottingham | |
| Thomas Martin | University of Nottingham | |
| Mohammed Shafi | University of Nottingham | |
| Professor Leigh Fletcher | University of Leicester | |
| Giovanni D'Addario | University of Nottingham | |
| Maggie Lieu | University of Nottingham | |
| Benjamin Muntz | University of Nottingham | After the backlash to the proposed cuts at the School of Physics and Astronomy in Nottingham, one might have expected university leaders elsewhere to learn the obvious lesson. Sussex’s proposal suggests instead a remarkably ill-judged commitment to repeating reputational self-sabotage. |
| Dr. Bohan Yue | University of Oxford | |
| alberto vecchio | University of Birmingham | |
| Alice Reed | University of Glasgow | |
| Thomas Cornish | Imperial College London | |
| David Stefanyszyn | University of Nottingham | |
| Dan Ryczanowski | ICG, University of Portsmouth | |
| Benjamin Bose | University of Edinburgh | |
| Elliot Watton | CERN | |
| Qi-Xin Xie | University of Nottingham | |
| Anthony Challinor | University of Cambridge | |
| Alexandre Parreira | LIP | |
| Jochen Liske | University of Hamburg | |
| Sofia Andringa | LIP, Lisbon | |
| Ricardo Gonçalo | University of Coimbra and LIP - Portugal | I sincerely hope the announced cuts can be reversed. It is a very long and hard effort to reach the international standing in the areas of particle physics and astronomy that were achieved at the University of Sussex. It would be a true waste and a great loss to the university if this is harmed by brutal cuts such as these. |
| Ameek Malhotra | Swansea University | |
| Paul Thompson | University of Birmingham | |
| Artem Shepelev | University of Birmingham | |
| Peter Butler | University of Liverpool | |
| Alan Watson | University of Birmingham | |
| Trevor Cheung | University of Nottingham | |
| Long Li | University of Birmingham | These academic postions should be retained |
| Fernando Monticelli | La Plata IFLP/UNLP/CONICET | SUSSEX has been a prominent group within ATLAS with key contributions to physics and to the detector trigger system. The impact of this reduction in our experiment is unfortunate. Given the first class global ranking status of Sussex, the negative impact of this decision is global scale, and not just UK. |
| Matt Hilton | University of the Witwatersrand | |
| Salvador MARTI | IFIC (València) | |
| Glenn Patrick | University of Portsmouth and Rutherford Appleton Laboratory | |
| Miriam Watson | University of Birmingham | |
| Daniel Galaviz Redondo | Faculty of Sciences, University of Lisbon | |
| Luke Conaboy | University of Nottingham | |
| Giuseppe Callea | University of Glasgow | |
| Stephen West | Royal Holloway, University of London | |
| Martin Aleksa | CERN | |
| Mark Slater | University of Birmingham | |
| Daniela Koeck | University of Oregon | Former Sussex PhD |
| Ray Staff | University of Sussex - undergrad degree and part-time work | Physics and Mathematics are two sciences that provide a variety of students with essential skills that can be applied to further research, teaching, and across industry and business. These skills will be integrated back into the economy and help to advance the UK in many ways. Not only this, but many areas of these fields inspire young people to go into similar areas, which also will boost the economy. Without these courses, many students would not be able to gain these skills and the UK would be left behind. Secondary school teachers for Maths and Science are already scarce, especially those who can also teach Physics and Chemistry. Without these degrees, this scarcity of teachers will become even worse. Sussex is arguably the most welcoming and diverse university, and this is a big draw for those who are underrepresented in maths and physics. Losing these courses would be terrible for Sussex, and for the students who feel lost in a world of white, male mathematicians and physicists. |
| Maria C Abreu | LIP - Laboratory of Instrumentation and Experimental Particle Physics | We can't destroy in one day what was built in a century |
| John Wheater | University of Oxford | |
| Nigel Watson | University of Birmingham | Shocking response from Sussex 'management', who need to consider _their_ postitions rather than the outstanding physicists who are now threatened with job losses |
| Aleandro Nisati | INFN | I am familiar in particular with the LHC experimental group, which obtained fundamental results over the past several years, world wide known. It fully deserves,with no reservation, the strongest support for the future. |
| Prof Ben Allanach | University of Cambridge | |
| Thomas Harvey | MIT | |
| Davide Pagani | INFN, Bologna | |
| Sarah Hughes | MIT Kavli institute | |
| Zufikar Najmudin | Imperial College London | These redundancies are short sighted, not only affecting the ability of the University of Sussex to sit at the top table of research institutions in the country, but also further the impression that the UK is sliding further and further down the table in terms of contributing to the furthering of human knowledge. A very sad development indeed. |
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