Cambridge MP Daniel Zeichner has criticised plans to cut funding for physics research, warning they could “devastate the sector”.

The funding plans, which come from the government body UK Research and Innovation (UKRI), include a real-terms reduction in funding for “curiosity driven” research, due to an increased focus on “commercialisation”.

In an article for the Cambridge Independent, Zeichner argued that funding changes implemented by UKRI could harm those asking “big questions about our world”.

According to Zeichner, the Labour MP for Cambridge since 2015, this move will cut up to 30% of funding for research fields including particle physics, astronomy and nuclear physics, often referred to as the PPAN community. Several large infrastructure projects have already been cancelled, and grant funding for some postdoctoral researchers has been delayed.

Zeichner expressed particular concern over the resulting impact on future talent, writing that “academics [in Cambridge] are now concerned about this research pipeline,” which has previously been “excellent”. He highlighted the financial difficulties faced by early-career researchers, whose often already precarious contracts could be made more insecure by the planned changes.

Zeichner called on the government to ensure “the university and its many scientific and tech-related spinouts and businesses are supported and free to expand.”

UKRI is the largest research funding body in the UK, spending over £8bn of taxpayer money each year. The government body announced a major reorganisation in February, seeking to “focus and do fewer things better,” in response to government pressure to prioritise economic growth.

On these changes, UKRI CEO, Ian Chapman, wrote: “When you make choices some will miss out, but if you don’t make choices everybody loses out.”

Zeichner’s comments come alongside continuing backlash from academics against moves to reduce research funding.

The House of Commons Science, Innovation and Technology Select Committee – of which Zeichner is a member – has heard evidence criticising the changes, including in a report sent by Dr Sarah Williams, an assistant professor in high energy physics at the University of Cambridge.

Writing on behalf of figures from across the University, Williams argued that “cuts to PPAN grant funding do not simply reduce the volume of academic research; they constrict a nationally significant supply of advanced technical skills into UK industry.”

Williams noted that Cambridge students involved in PPAN research often go on to work in internationally recognised companies, as the discipline provides them with “the core competencies demanded by the UK’s fastest-growing economic sectors”.

Meanwhile, George Efstathio, a professor at Cambridge’s Kavli Institute for Cosmology, who sat on one of the UKRI’s boards until 2025, criticised how the plans have been characterised by the organisation.

In a letter written on 5 March, Efstathio states that “it is impossible to believe that UKRI did not understand that a flat cash settlement would lead to large cuts in the PPAN programme”. He added that internal UKRI structures lead to “bias towards supporting facilities at the expense of the PPAN programme.”

The letter concludes: “Cuts have already been made to PPAN with more cuts to come. And they are intentional.”

These comments come after a recent open letter criticising UKRI research funding changes. Several Cambridge academics were among the over 1000 signatories of the letter, published in February, which criticised the impact of the changes on early-career scientists.