United Kingdom

At a glance

• The UK has been awarded 24 contracts during construction in areas of software development, cryogenics and timing systems.
• The UK is projected to receive over £100m of construction related work to industry and academia.
• UK scientists make up approximately 15-20% of SKA’s Science Working Groups.
• The Science and Technology Facilities Council within UK Research and Innovation oversees the UK's contribution to the SKAO, which amounts to approximately £327m.
• The UK has a national radio astronomy facility, eMERLIN - a network of 7 large radio telescopes. As well as delivering world leading science, the facility provides training for the future SKAO community, providing the only current facility with comparable frequency and resolution to the SKAO.

National involvement

The Science and Technology Facilities Council (STFC), part of UK Research and Innovation (UKRI), oversees the UK's contribution to the SKAO, which amounts to ~20% of the SKAO’s budget from 2021 to 2030 (£327m). UK engineers, technologists and astronomers are at the forefront of making the SKA project a success. Scientists and engineers at UK universities, institutions and industry have been critical in the design of the SKAO and during the construction phase.

The UK won the right to host the HQ in 2015 representing significant economic benefit to the UK. The UK will support 15% of operations activities at the HQ, with the remaining 85% coming from other Members. That is, every £1 spent by the UK on HQ operations leverages £5.67 of foreign direct investment (FDI) into the UK. It is estimated that hosting the HQ will unlock FDI of approximately £225M and approximately £280M additional UK GVA is calculated from 2021- 2030.

Industrial participation

SKA construction contracts awarded to the UK include software development, cryosystems, central processing hardware, synchronisation and timing, and signal processing cabinets. The UK is projected to receive over £100m of construction related work to industry and academia. Over 20 UK companies, seven universities and STFC National Laboratories play leading roles in the SKAO.

More than £40m has been awarded to UK industry and academia to enable the UK to lead the delivery of the crucial software ‘brain’ of the world’s largest radio telescope. The investment has allowed UK universities, institutes and industry to work collaboratively to tackle the Big Data challenges of the SKAO, applicable to areas beyond astronomy. 

Science interests 

The broad interest in SKAO science is reflected in UK scientists’ participation in all 14 of the SKAO’s Science Working Groups, with co-chairing positions in five of them. UK scientists make up approximately 15-20% of SKAO’s Science Working Groups 

The UK has a world-leading astronomy and space science community, supported by STFC. It is second only to the US in terms of the quality of its scientific publications and has taken a leading role in many of the most exciting discoveries of the past decade; such as our understanding of the expansion of the Universe, the search for other Earth-like planets and recent detection of gravitational waves, which won a Nobel Prize in 2017.

The SKAO has been identified by STFC and its astronomy community as the highest priority astronomy programme alongside the European Southern Observatory. The 2018 Radio Astronomy Strategic Review concluded that “Maximising the UK involvement and scientific output from the SKA is a high priority for STFC”. The SKA has an extremely broad science case that addresses questions from all four areas in STFC’s priority Science Challenges. The SKA will widen the UK community and integrate it around science themes, enhancing collaboration across the UK.

Wider impact

The UK is investing heavily in developing an SKAO Regional Centre to process, store and provide access to SKAO data products. Currently, the UK is the largest contributor to the Regional Centre Network and will host a ‘UK’ node, providing significant advantage to UK astronomers in accessing and analysing SKAO data. STFC has award ~£20m to UK universities and STFC National Laboratories to lead global Regional Centre activities.

The SKAO also creates opportunities for the UK to collaborate and make new partnerships with other SKA Members, scientifically and politically. The Development in Africa with Radio Astronomy (DARA) programme has been established to train around 30 young people per year in developing African countries to aid the development of the African radio astronomy community through human capital development in STEM related subjects. The DARA project has given basic training to over 300 African students, provided Masters degrees and PhDs.

The SKAO also has a significant outreach presence in the UK, attending annual events such as bluedot. In 2025, UK SKA Scientists secured a stand at the Royal Society Summer Exhibition, which attracts around 10,000 visitors, including the public, school students, and invited guests.

Contact

George Madden – Head of SKA Project Office

Telephone: 01793 442075

Simon Haynes – SKA Project Office

Telephone: 01793 442127