Dr Anneke Lubben, Director of Research Infrastructure and Facilities, has been appointed as UKRI Facilities Strategic Advisory Group (FSAG) Chair. The Group’s remit covers leadership of strategic discussions on the large-scale multidisciplinary facilities primarily based at the Harwell Campus and internationally, with a current focus on neutron sources, high-power lasers and light source facilities, including Diamond.
The Group also prioritises proposal submissions to the UKRI Infrastructure Fund relating to the large-scale multidisciplinary facilities, and therefore Anneke will also become a member of the UKRI Infrastructure Advisory Committee (IAC), which oversees award and delivery of funding for large national infrastructure projects.
Anneke has previously held several roles on infrastructure advisory boards in multiple councils within UKRI, including her most recent roles chairing the EPSRC Strategic Advisory Team and acting as a member of the MRC Infrastructure and Capital Strategic Advisory Group. She also has previous experience of developing proposals to the Large Infrastructure Fund when she led the proposal for a £50M, nationwide distributed mass spectrometry infrastructure, Critical MASS UK, which was supported by the IAC in 2023.
Professor Sarah Hainsworth, Pro-Vice-Chancellor (Research and Enterprise), said:
I would like to congratulate Anneke on her appointment as UKRI Facilities Strategic Advisory Group (FSAG) Chair and her consequent membership of the UKRI Infrastructure Advisory Committee (IAC). The appointment reflects Bath’s leading position in terms of development of core research infrastructures that support our colleagues to undertake excellent and impactful research.
Dr Anneke Lubben, said:
It is a great honour to have been nominated for the FSAG Chairing role and I am thrilled to accept the position. It provides a fantastic opportunity to play an important role in developing and delivering the best possible neutron, laser and light source research infrastructure nationally and internationally to enable world-class research. I am also very excited to be a part of the Infrastructure Advisory Committee, and to be on the other side of the table in the Large Infrastructure funding process, evaluating the proposals rather than writing them. Hopefully my experience of developing of these large infrastructure bids will help in the IAC choosing to support the best infrastructure projects for UK research and innovation.