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Dear ECRs,</div>
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I have been forwarded the message below which may be of interest to you.</div>
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Best wishes,</div>
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Alfonso</div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 11pt; color: rgb(0, 155, 189);"><b>Alfonso Aragón-Salamanca</b></span><br>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; color: rgb(19, 27, 87);"><b>Professor of Astronomy</b></span></p>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; color: rgb(19, 27, 87);"><b>University of Nottingham</b></span></p>
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<b>From:</b> Lucien Heurtier <lucien.heurtier@kcl.ac.uk><br>
<b>Sent:</b> Wednesday, February 04, 2026 4:05 PM<br>
<b>Subject:</b> Call for Signatures: Early Career Researchers Response to UKRI Investment Approach</div>
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<span style="font-family: Aptos, sans-serif; font-size: 11pt; color: rgb(36, 36, 36);">Dear All,</span></p>
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<span style="font-family: Aptos, sans-serif; font-size: 11pt; color: rgb(36, 36, 36);">I am writing on behalf of a group of early-career researchers in Particle Physics, Astronomy and Nuclear Physics who have drafted an open letter to UKRI in response to the
recently announced changes to the UKRI investment approach.</span></p>
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<span style="font-family: Aptos, sans-serif; font-size: 11pt; color: rgb(36, 36, 36);">The letter sets out concerns that the proposed new funding framework risk unintentionally eroding the UK’s foundational capability in fundamental science, with uncertainty
and re-prioritisation falling disproportionately on early-career researchers and creating irreversible losses to skills, talent, and long-term national capability.</span></p>
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<span style="font-family: Aptos, sans-serif; font-size: 11pt; color: rgb(36, 36, 36);">The letter is
<b>written by early-career researchers and will be submitted in the names of the undersigned ECRs only</b>.</span></p>
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<span style="font-family: Aptos, sans-serif; font-size: 11pt; color: rgb(36, 36, 36);">I would be very grateful if you would be willing to
<b>circulate the attached letter to early-career researchers in your group</b>, inviting those who wish to do so to add their names via the webpage below:</span></p>
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<span style="font-family: Aptos, sans-serif; font-size: 11pt; color: rgb(36, 36, 36);"><a href="https://ecr-openletter-stfc.github.io/" id="OWA7488fd9a-c0c0-bdba-ef98-91216103a8b7" class="x_OWAAutoLink" title="URL d'origine: https://ecr-openletter-stfc.github.io/. Cliquez ou appuyez si vous faites confiance à ce lien." originalsrc="https://ecr-openletter-stfc.github.io/" data-linkindex="0" data-auth="NotApplicable" style="margin: 0px;">https://ecr-openletter-stfc.github.io</a></span></p>
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<span style="font-family: Aptos, sans-serif; font-size: 11pt; color: rgb(36, 36, 36);">Thank you very much for your time, and for helping ensure that early-career perspectives are directly represented in this discussion.</span></p>
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<span style="font-family: Aptos, sans-serif; font-size: 11pt; color: rgb(36, 36, 36);">Best wishes,</span></p>
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<span style="font-family: Aptos, sans-serif; font-size: 11pt; color: rgb(36, 36, 36);">Dr Lucien Heurtier<br>
(on behalf of the coordinating committee of early-career researchers)</span></p>
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<b>Lucien Heurtier (He/Him)</b></div>
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<b>Postdoctoral Research Associate | Theoretical Particle Physics & Cosmology (TPPC) Group </b></div>
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King’s College London </div>
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Strand Building | Strand | London | WC2R 2LS </div>
<p dir="ltr" style="text-align: justify; margin: 0cm 0cm 8pt;"><span style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; font-size: 11pt; color: rgb(0, 0, 0);"> <a href="http://www.kcl.ac.uk/physics" id="OWA65cce522-0d87-85d7-391d-91283bcaf0a5" class="x_ContentPasted0 x_OWAAutoLink" data-auth="NotApplicable" style="margin-top: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px;">www.kcl.ac.uk/physics</a></span><span style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; font-size: 11pt; color: rgb(5, 99, 193);"><u> </u></span><span style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; font-size: 14.6667px; color: rgb(0, 0, 0); background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"> |</span><span style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; font-size: 11pt; color: rgb(5, 99, 193);"> </span><span style="font-family: Aptos, Aptos_EmbeddedFont, Aptos_MSFontService, Calibri, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 12pt; color: rgb(0, 0, 0);">Personal
Website: <a href="https://lheurtier.github.io/index.html" id="OWA148b147b-0829-f7b4-8198-ccadc043439a" class="x_OWAAutoLink" title="https://lheurtier.github.io/index.html" data-auth="NotApplicable" style="margin-top: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px;">
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