Research Roadmap

(RCUK) has released a reference work showing major research infrastructures, including light sources, research ships, innovative laboratories and social data sets.

Its 2008 Large Facilities Roadmap aims to ensure that the UK offers world-class research facilities in the most effective way and allows the UK to take full advantage of emerging opportunities in the world of research and innovation.

Prof Ian Diamond, chair of the RCUK Executive Group, said: ‘The 2008 Roadmap reveals a vibrant research base supported by a broad array of facilities serving a wide range of researchers, from engineering to environmental research, astronomy to medicine, enabling them to address societal challenges such as environmental change and the ageing population. It plays a vital role in realising the government's vision of the UK as the most attractive location in the world for science and innovation.’

The Roadmap provides a comprehensive picture of the facilities planned and under construction by Research Councils UK, and the facilities that it and its research communities have identified as emerging opportunities for the future.

The Roadmap lists the facilities that require access to funding from the Large Facilities Capital Fund, administered by the Department for Innovation, Universities and Skills .