EPSRC removes ring-fence

THE EPSRC has removed ring-fencing for strategically important "national services", they will now have to compete for "responsive mode" funding rather than competing with each other for "directed mode" funding. One casualty is the National Service for Computational Chemistry Software (NSCCS) at Imperial College London, which is to close March 2009. An online petition has been set up condemning the decision. A spokeswoman for the EPSRC is quoted as saying, '"The decision not to fund the NSCCS was taken on the advice of independent scientists through the peer review system."'

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