THE difficult financial environment may be affecting most countries across the world, but research and development in the United Kingdom continues to be funded by billions of pounds in order for the UK to remain an international partner and a global leader.

The economic situation has required the Science & Technology Facilities Council (STFC) to examine projects realistically to reduce some programmes and change its outlook to concentrate on priority research.

Despite that, the STFC confirms it is to invest 2.4 billion pounds over five years in world-leading multi-disciplinary science and technology "designed to deliver maximum scientific, societal, international and economic benefit".

And a recent study praising the excellence of UK research is described as showing the work to have an "unwavering focus on quality rather than quantity" - and it is a view backed by the government's pledge to invest a record level of almost six billion pounds in UK science and research by 2011.

The Science & Technology Facilities Council is one of Europe's largest multi-disciplinary research organisations, supporting scientists and engineers worldwide, and its chairman, Professor Michael Sterling, said the strategic consolidation and redirection of the science programme would ensure continued major benefits for the UK.

He added: "This is a major reorganisation of our programme to focus on the top priority items, making use of the international subscriptions which, while costly, allow UK scientists critically important access to the world-class facilities provided by these international consortia."

The STFC's future high-level funding can be seen as confirmation of the recent, internationally researched report that the UK achieves global recognition and success through top quality scientific work.

That research carried out in the UK is described as the most productive and efficient in the world's leading industrialised nations, according to a recent study commissioned by the Department for Business, Innovation & Skills (www.bis.gsi.gov.uk/ ).

The UK also continues to rank as second only in the world to the United States on leading scientific indicators - these included clinical sciences, health sciences, biological sciences, environmental and social sciences.

Crucially, during the present economic climate, the international benchmarking study established that the UK offers some of the "best value for money", with the nation ranking first among the G8 countries on the number of citations in relation to public research and development spend (citation counts indicate the quality of the papers).

The survey also revealed a rise in the number of UK papers co-authored with researchers in other countries. These co-authored papers tend to be highly cited - international collaborations with the US, Germany and France have an impact of 50 per cent higher than the UK research base average. The UK produced eight per cent of the world's scientific papers, third only to the US and China.

Returning to the Science & Technology Facilities Council' future funding programme, its chairman, Professor Michael Sterling, said: "Taxpayers can be confident that their significant investment in research will deliver the highest quality, and most inspiring and beneficial, science and technology into the future."

Although there will be reductions in some research fields and a rationalisation of STFC projects based on prioritisation and affordability, some of the high funded projects planned over five years are:

* 690 million pounds for support for particle physics in the UK, focussing on work at the European particle physics laboratory CERN (where the Large Hadron Collider is expected to start routine science operations this year), other experiments and grants to UK university groups to exploit this investment.

* 639m pounds for support for space science in the UK through membership of the European Space Agency planetary exploration expected to deliver a robotic mission to Mars within 10 years, other bilateral missions, and grants to university groups to exploit this investment.

* 267m pounds for support for ground-based astronomy in the UK, focussing on access to the world-leading telescopes Alma, VLT & Vista in Chile, continuous R&D support for the proposed Square Kilometre Array (SKA) and European Extremely Large Telescope, operation of Scuba-2 on the JCMT until 2012, previously agreed support for e-Merlin as part of STFC strategy for the SKA, and grants to UK university groups to exploit this investment.

* 258m for access to light sources for the medical, biological, chemistry, environmental, materials and other sciences and engineering through the provision and upgrades of the Diamond Light Source in Oxfordshire and the European Synchrotron Radiation Facility in Grenoble, France.

* 236m for access to neutron sources for the medical, biological, chemistry, environmental, materials and other sciences and engineering through the provision and upgrades of the ISIS neutron-muon facility in Oxfordshire and the Institute Laue-Langevin in Grenoble, as part of a wider European strategy for the future provision of neutrons.

Professor Sterling added: "The managed withdrawal from identified projects will allow members of our scientific communities to redirect their efforts or, where possible, to seek other sources of funding for their projects."

The STFC operates large-scale research facilities, giving researchers access to world-class facilities. It funds the UK membership of international bodies, such as the European Laboratory for Particle Physics (CERN), the Institute Laue Langevin, the European Synchrotron Radiation Facility, the European organisation for Astronomical Research in the Southern Hemisphere, and the European Space Agency.