Dr Emma Whitworth, the UK’s sole remaining research scientist, has announced she will be relocating to the Max Planck Institute in Leipzig next month. The move will leave Britain’s entire scientific establishment unstaffed for the first time since 1847.
Dr Whitworth, 34, has spent the past eighteen months working alone in the Francis Crick Institute in London. She confirms she has been turning lights off as she moves between floors to save energy costs.
“I did put a note on the departmental WhatsApp asking if anyone wanted my pipettes,” said Dr Whitworth, a molecular biologist specialising in cardiac cell regeneration. “Then I remembered I’m the only person still in the WhatsApp. And the only person who knows what a pipette is.”
The Max Planck Institute offered Dr Whitworth a fully funded position with two postdoctoral researchers, laboratory space, and the opportunity to occasionally speak to another scientist. Her current role in Britain provides none of these things.
Dr Whitworth’s departure follows the exit of Britain’s penultimate scientist, Professor James Okafor, who left for the Netherlands in January. Professor Okafor had been conducting climate research in a disused office in Cambridge with equipment he largely purchased himself from eBay.
“I did try to make it work,” Dr Whitworth added. “But when you’re applying for a £3,000 grant and the application form is 84 pages long, you do start to wonder if they actually want anyone to do research here.”
The Government’s Department for Science, Innovation and Technology released a statement emphasising its commitment to making Britain a science superpower. The statement was written by Claire Sanderson, a former marketing consultant with a 2:2 in Business Studies, who is now the department’s sole remaining employee.
“We have world-leading facilities,” the statement read. “And we’re confident that British science will continue to thrive.”
When asked whether these facilities will be useful without any scientists to use them, Ms Sanderson said the department was “exploring all options” and “working closely with stakeholders.” She was unable to name any stakeholders.
Dr Whitworth confirmed she has been fielding enquiries about laboratory equipment from various parties, including a private hospital group interested in her microscopes and a man from Hounslow who wants to know if centrifuges can be converted into smoothie makers. She has declined all offers and will be taking her personal items with her to Germany.
The Francis Crick Institute will remain open as a building. It will be used for storage.
Dr Whitworth’s last day is 14th March. She has asked that anyone still needing to contact her about British research funding do so before then, though she notes there is “essentially nobody left to fund and nothing left to fund them with.”
She will be leaving her keys with security.
