Acronym Glossary
| Acronym | Definition |
| AAO | Australian Astronomical Observatory |
| AAOUC | Australian Astronomical Observatory Users Committee |
| AAP | Astronomy Advisory Panel |
| AAT | Anglo-Australian Telescope |
| AATB | Anglo-Australian Telescope Board |
| ABHPC | Advisory Body High Performance Computing |
| AEP | Atmospheric Environment Package |
| AF | Advanced Fellowships |
| AGP | Astronomy Grants Panel |
| ALICE | A Large Ion Collider Experiment, CERN |
| ALICE | Accelerators and Lasers In Combined Experiments, Daresbury |
| ALMA | Atacama Large Millimeter Array |
| AO | Adaptive Optics |
| APSiS | Advisory Panel on Science in Society |
| ARES | Atmospheric Relaxation Electric Field Sensor |
| ASE | The Association for Science Education |
| ASPERA 3 | Analyser Space Plasmas Energetic Atoms |
| ASTAB | Accelerator Science and Technology Advisory Board |
| ASTeC | Accelerator Science and Technology Centre |
| ATC | UK Astronomy Technology Centre |
| BAS | British Antarctic Survey |
| BBSRC | Biotechnology Biological Sciences Research Council |
| b-HROS | b High Resolution Optical Spectrograph |
| BIS | Department of Business, Innovation and Skills |
| CAPS | Cassini Plasma Spectrometer |
| CASE | Co-operative Award Science Engineering |
| CCD | Charge-Coupled Device |
| CCI | Comite Cientifico International |
| CCLRC | Council for the Central Laboratory of the Research Councils |
| CDA | Cosmic Dust Analyser |
| CDS | Coronal Diagnostic Spectrometer |
| CERN | the European Organization for Nuclear Research |
| CFHT | Canada France Hawaii Telescope |
| CfI | Centre for Instrumentation |
| CIRS | Composite Infrared Spectrometer |
| CLF | Central Laser Facility |
| CLRC | Central Laboratory Research Councils, now merged into STFC |
| CMB | Cosmic Microwave Background |
| CMS | Compact Muon Solenoid |
| CMT | Carlsberg Meridian Telescope, Canary Islands |
| CNAP | Computing Networking Advisory Panel |
| COBE | Cosmic Background Explorer |
| COPUS | Committee Public Understanding Science |
| COSPAR | Committee on Space Research |
| CREST | Collaborative Research Exploration Systems Technology |
| CST | Council Science Technology |
| CUTLASS | Collaborative Uk Twin Located Auroral Sounding System |
| CVCP | Committee Vice-Chancellors Principals |
| DBIS | Department of Business, Innovation and Skills |
| DEFRA | DEpartment of Food Rural Affairs |
| DERA | Defence Evaluation Research Agency |
| DESY | Deutsches Elecktronen-SYnchronton |
| DGRC | Director General Research Councils |
| DIBS | Drill-Integrated package Borehole Science |
| DL | Daresbury Laboratory |
| DLS | Diamond Light Source |
| DSIC | Daresbury Science and Innovation Campus |
| DSTL | Defence Science and Technology Laboratory |
| DWP | Digital Wave Processor |
| E&T | Education and Training |
| EDLS | Entry Desecent Landing System |
| E-ELT | European - Extremely Large Telescope |
| EGSAC | Eso Gemini Science Advisory Committee |
| EIS | Extreme ultra violet Imaging Spectrometer |
| EISCAT | European Incoherent Scatter Facility Svalbard Radar |
| ELT | Extremely Large Telescope |
| EPIC | European Photon Imaging Camera |
| EPSRC | Engineering Physical Sciences Research Council |
| ESA | European Space Agency |
| ESF | European Science Foundation |
| ESO | European Southern Observatory |
| ESRC | Economic Social Research Council |
| EUV | Extreme UltraViolet |
| EVN | European Very long baseline interferometer Network |
| EXAFS | Extended X-ray Absorption Fine Structure |
| FCO | Foreign Commonwealth Office |
| FGM | FluxGate Magnetometer |
| FIRST | Far Infrared and Sub-millimetre Telescope, now Herschel Space Telescope |
| GFL | Government Forward Look |
| GMOS | Gemini Multi-Object Spectrograph |
| GNIRS | Gemini Near-IR Spectrograph |
| GOLF | Global Oscillations Low Frequency |
| GPD | General Purpose Detectors |
| GPR | Ground-Penetrating Radar |
| GSFC | Goddard Space Flight Centre |
| HASI | Huygens Atmospheric Instrument |
| HEFCE | Higher Education Funding Council for England |
| HEFCS | Higher Education Funding Council for Scotland |
| HEFCW | Higher Education Funding Council for Wales |
| HEI | Higher Education Institution |
| HERA | Hadron Electron Ring Accelerator Hamburg |
| HERO | Higher Education Research Opportunities |
| HESS | High Energy Stereoscopic System, Telescope |
| HFI | High Frequency Instrument |
| HIA | Hertzberg Institute Astrophysics |
| HoD | Heads of Departments |
| HORCs | Heads of Research Councils |
| HPC | High Performance Computing |
| HPSC | Herschel Planck Steering Committee |
| HRI | High Resolution Image |
| HROS | High Resolution Optical Spectrograph Gemini |
| HRSC | High Resolution Stereoscopic Camera |
| HSIC | Harwell Science and Innovation Campus |
| HST | Hubble Space Telescope |
| IAU | International Astrophysical Union |
| IFU | Integral Field Unit |
| ILEWG | International Lunar Exploration Working Group |
| ILP | Industrial Liaison Panel |
| IMARS | International Mars Architecture return samples |
| IMEWG | International Mars Exploration Working Group |
| ING | Isaac Newton Group |
| INGB | Isaac Newton Group Board |
| INGRID | Isaac Newton Group Red Imaging Device |
| INT | Isaac Newton Telescope |
| IoP | Institute of Physics |
| IPAC | Industrial Programme Advisory Committee |
| IPR | Intellectual Property Rights |
| IPS | Innovations Partnership Scheme |
| IRAS | Ionising Radiation Sensor |
| IRIS | Imaging Riometer Ionospheric Studies |
| ISO | Infrared Space Observatory |
| ISS | Imaging Science Subsystem |
| ITAC | Innovations Technology Access Centre |
| IUE | International Ultraviolet Explorer |
| JAC | Joint Astronomy Centre |
| JACH | Joint Astronomy Centre Hawaii |
| JBO | Jodrell Bank Observatory |
| JCMT | James Clerk Maxwell Telescope, Hawaii |
| JCMTAP | James Clerk Maxwell Telescope Advisory Panel |
| JCMTB | James Clerk Maxwell Telescope Board |
| Je-S | Joint Electronic Submission |
| JIF | Joint Infrastructure Fund |
| JKT | Jacob Kapteyn Telescope |
| JREI | Joint Research Equipment Initiative |
| KARMEN | KArlsruhe Rutherford Medium ENergy |
| KITE Club | KITE Club |
| LASCO | Large Angle Spectrometric COronograph |
| LEAR | Low Energy Antiproton Ring |
| LEP | Large Electron Position Collider |
| LFI | Low Frequency Instrument |
| LFP | Lecturer Fellowships Panel |
| LHC | Large Hadron Collider, CERN |
| LIGO | Laser Interferometer Gravitational wave Observatory |
| LISA | Laser Interferometer Space Antenna |
| LMC | Large Magellenic Cloud |
| LMC | Life Marker Chip |
| LOA | Large Optical Array |
| LSF | Lasers for Science Facility |
| LT | Liverpool Telescope |
| LTSR | Long Term Science Review |
| LTTP | Long Term Technology Plan |
| LTTR | Long Term Technology Review |
| MARSIS | Mars Advanced Radar Sub-surface Ionospheric Sounding |
| MAXAT | MAXimum Aperture Telescope |
| MCAO | Multi-Conjugate Adaptive Optics |
| MEDUSA | Martian Envronment Dust Systematic Analyser |
| MERLIN | Multi-Element Radio-Linked Interferometry Network |
| METEO-AEP | Atmospheric Environment Package |
| MINOS | Main Injector Neutrino Oscillation Search |
| MIST | Magnetosphere Ionosphere Solar Terrestrial |
| MOD | Ministry Of Defence |
| MOD | Mars Organic Detector |
| MODULUS | Method of Determining Understanding Light Unequivocal Stable isotopic compositions |
| MOI | Mars Organic Instrument |
| MOMA | Mars Organic Molecule Analyser |
| MoonLITE | Moon Lightweight Interior Telecom Experiment |
| MoU | Memorandum of Understanding |
| MRAO | Mullard Radio Astronomy Observatory |
| MRC | Medical Research Council |
| MSMO | Mars Surface Magnetic Observatory |
| MSR | Mars Sample Return |
| MSSL | Mullard Space Science Laboratory, University College London |
| NAOMI | Naysmith Adaptive Optics Multi-purpose Instrumentation |
| NASA | National Aeronautics Space Agency, US NASA |
| NDPB | Non-Departmental Public Body |
| NEO | Near-Earth Object |
| NERC | Natural Environment Research Council |
| NEXT | Next Exploration Science Technology Mission |
| NGST | Next Generation Space Telescope |
| NMM | National Maritime Museum, Greenwich |
| NOW | Nederlandse Organisatie voor Wetenschappelijk |
| NP | Nuclear Physics |
| NRAL | Nuffield Radio Astronomy Laboratory |
| NRAO | National Radio Astronomy Observatory |
| NRC | National Research Council |
| NSF | National Science Foundation |
| NSO | National Schools Observatory |
| OM | Optical Monitor |
| OPAL | Omni-Purpose Apparatus, CERN |
| OPI | Output Performance Indicator |
| OPSS | Office Public Service Science |
| ORM | Observatorio Roque los Muchachos, La Palma |
| ORP | Observatories Restructuring Panel |
| OST | Office of Science and Technology |
| PAAP | Particle Astrophysics Advisory Panel |
| PALS | Physical And Life Sciences committee |
| PanCam | Panoramic Camera, ExoMars |
| PATT | Panel Allocation Telescope Time |
| PCA | Parliamentary Commissioner Administration |
| PDF | PostDoctoral Fellowships |
| PDRA | PostDoctoral Research Assistant |
| PEACE | Plasma current experiment |
| PER | Public Engagement with Research |
| PES | Public Expenditure Survey |
| PFP | Postdoctoral Fellowships Panel |
| PLS | Post Launch Support |
| POST | Parliamentary Office of Science and Technology |
| PPAN | Particle Physics, Astronomy and Nuclear physics science committee |
| PPAP | Particle Physics Advisory Panel |
| PPC | Particle Physics Committee |
| PPDR&DP | Particle Physics Detector Research Development Panel |
| PPESP | Particle Physics Experiments Selection Panel |
| PPGP | Particle Physics Grants Panel |
| PPGPE | Particle Physics Grants Panel Experiment |
| PPGPHPC | Particle Physics Grants Panel High Performance Computing |
| PPGPT | Particle Physics Grants Panel Theory |
| PPGRID | Particle Physics GRID panel |
| PPNCG | Particle Physics Network Co-ordinating Group |
| PPRP | Projects Peer Review Panel |
| PPTC | Particle Physics Theory Committee |
| PRI | Pupil Researcher Initiative |
| PRO | Public Records Office |
| PSRE | Public Sector Research Establishments |
| PTS | Postgraduate Training Service |
| PUS | Public Understanding Science technology |
| PUSAP | Public Understanding Science technology Awards Panel |
| PX | Protein Crystallography |
| R&D | Research and Development |
| RAL | Rutherford Appleton Laboratory |
| Raman/LIBS | Laser-Induced Breakdown Spectroscopy |
| RAPID | Research Adaptive Particle Imaging Detectors |
| RAS | Royal Astronomical Society |
| RCA | Radiocomunications Agency |
| RCIAS | Research Councils Internal Audit Service |
| RCUK | Research Councils United Kingdom |
| RGS | Reflecting Grating Spectrograph |
| ROE | Royal Observatory Edinburgh |
| ROG | Royal Observatory Greenwich |
| ROPA | Realising Potential Awards ROPAs |
| ROSAT | ROentgen SATellite |
| RPWS | Radio Plasma Wave Science |
| RS | Royal Society |
| SAMNET | Sub Auroral Magnetometer NETwork |
| SCAMP | Science Committee Astronomer Membership Panel |
| SCAP | Standing Committee Astronomy Professors |
| SCPP | Standing Committee Physics Professors |
| SCUBA 2 | Submillimetre Common-User Bolometre Array 2, JCMT |
| SEBCC | Science Engineering Base Co-ordinating Committee |
| SET | Science Engineering Technology |
| SEWG | Space Exploration Working Group |
| SFP | Senior Fellowships Panel |
| SHEFCE | Scottish Higher Education Funding Council |
| SiS | Science in Society |
| SKA | Square-Kilometre Array |
| SLA | Service Level Agreement |
| SLAC | Stanford Linear Accelerator Center |
| SMART | Smart Missions Advanced Research Technology |
| SME | Small Medium Enterprises |
| SNO | Sudbury Neutrino Observatory |
| SOHO | Solar and Heliospheric Observatory, satellite studying |
| SPAC | Science Programme Advisory Committee |
| SPEAR | Space Plasma Exploration Active Radar |
| SQAP | Studentships Quota Allocation Panel |
| SRF | Senior Research Fellowships |
| SRIF | Science Research Investment Fund |
| SSAC | Space Science Advisory Committee |
| SSAP | Space Science Advisory Panel |
| SSC | Survey Science Centre |
| SSP | Surface Science Package |
| STFC | Science and Technology Facilities Council |
| STP | Solar-Terrestrial Physics |
| STPNFC | Solar Terrestrial Physics National Facilities Committee |
| TCS | Teaching Company Scheme |
| TFP | Technology Foresight Panel |
| UFTI | UKIRT Fast Track Instrument camera |
| UIST | UKIRT Infrared Spectrometer |
| UK | United Kingdom |
| UKATC | United Kingdom Astronomy Technology Centre |
| UKCC | United Kingdom Committee CERN |
| UKDMC | UK Dark Matter Collaboration |
| UKIRT | UK Infrared Telescope |
| UKIRTB | UK Infrared Telescope Board |
| UKSA | The United Kingdom Space Agency |
| UKST | UK Schmidt Telescope |
| UV | Ultra Violet |
| UVIS | Ultraviolet Visible Light Spectrometer |
| VIRGO | Variability of Solar Irradiance and Gravity Oscillations, Italian gravitational wave facility |
| VISTA | Visible Infrared Survey Telescope Astronomy |
| VLA | Very Large Array |
| VLBI | Very Long Baseline Interferometry |
| VLT | Very Large Telescope, ESO |
| VR | Visiting Researcher |
| VSA | Very Small Array |
| WASP | Wide-Angle Search for Planets, La Palma |
| WDC | World Data Centre |
| WFAP | Wide-Field Astronomy Panel |
| WFAU | Wide-Field Astronomy Unit IfA Edinburgh |
| WFCAM | Wide Field CAMera ukirt |
| WHT | William Herschel Telescope, La Palma |
| WIMPS | Weakly Interacting Massive Particles, candidate for dark matter |
| XANES | X-ray Absorption Near-Edge Structure |
| XAS | X-ray Absorption Spectroscopy |
| XMM | X-Ray Multi Mirror, Newton Space telescope |
| XMMSC | X-Ray Multi Mirror Steering Committee |
| XRD | X-Ray Diffractometer |
| YDAC | Yohkho Data Archive Centre, Solar mission |
