A Nobel laureate has challenged the University of Nottingham’s decision to slash staff numbers in its prestigious physics department by a third, arguing that short-term budget difficulties should not lead to cuts in areas of internationally recognised research excellence.
Brian Schmidt, the US-Australian astronomer who won the Nobel Prize in Physics in 2011 and was president of Australian National University from 2016 to 2024, said he was unconvinced that the cuts announced in May were necessary given the underlying financial health of the Russell Group university, despite it reporting a £85 million deficit.
“I have been a university president so I looked at the finances,” he told Times Higher Education, speaking at the Lindau Nobel Laureate Meeting, an annual scientific get-together in southern Germany, which runs from 28 June to 4 July.
“It seems this university has had some unsuccessful investments but its immediate future is not under threat,” said Schmidt.
“To divest from an area of academic strength – particularly physics – by getting rid of research staff should be an absolute last resort for an institution. I’m not at all clear that this is a last resort scenario,” he continued.
