Economics of Big Science Workshop

20 Apr 2026, 08:30 → 21 Apr 2026, 17:00 Europe/London

MAR.2.08 (2nd Floor) (LSE, Marshall Building)

The Economics of Big Science

 

Why should governments invest public funds in Big Science, especially when it is curiosity-driven, and its benefits for taxpayers are uncertain? This is the central question that this workshop will address. 

 

In many instances, these capital-intensive projects result from international cooperation, pooling expertise and resources from multiple countries. Yet the financial investments required to build and operate them are typically spatially concentrated in a specific region or country. This geographic concentration brings into sharper focus these tensions over cost, accountability, and the distribution of economic and societal benefits—particularly between those who pay for science and those who are seen to benefit from it.

 
The meeting, organised through the collaboration between LSE and CERN within the framework of the Future Circular Collider feasibility study and supported by a UKRI Metascience Research Grant, will bring together stakeholders and academics to examine how public investment in research infrastructures and Big Science contributes to economic development. It will review state-of-the-art approaches for assessing impacts beyond core science—procurement, knowledge spillovers, skills, and entrepreneurship—and serve as a forum for exchanging practical strategies to measure and maximise economic value.

 

This workshop is supported by the Economic and Social Research Council (Grant No. UKRI1092).

Please note that places are limited and all registrations are subject to moderation.


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Monday 20 April

09:10 → 09:30 Light Breakfast: Registration and Light Breakfast

09:30 → 09:40 Welcome address

09:40 → 11:00 Session 1: The Socio-economic Impact of Big Science - The Bigger Picture

Convener: Prof. Riccardo Crescenzi (London School of Economics and Political Science)

09:45 How Governments Assesses the Value of Science

Speaker: Prof. Riccardo Crescenzi (London School of Economics and Polical Science)

09:55 A Word from the European Commission

Speaker: Mrs Patricia Postigo McLaughlin (European Commission)

10:05 European Strategy Forum on Research Infrastructures

Speaker: Prof. José Luis Martinez Peña (ESFRI)

10:15 Rethinking the Evaluation of Big Science

Speaker: Ms Charlotte Glass (STFC, Head of Evaluation)

10:25 Translating Big Science into National Benefit : an Example from the Paul Scherrer Institute

Speaker: Dr Mirjam van Daalen (PSI)

10:35 Q&A

11:00 → 11:20 Coffee break

11:20 → 12:30 Session 2 - Roundtable Discussion: The Why, What, How, and When of Big Science Evaluation

Chair and Lead Discussant: Dr. Silvia Vignetti (CSIL)

Format: ~10min – initial kick-off on the importance of evidence, followed by a moderated roundtable with 4 rounds of interventions

12:30 → 14:00 Lunch

14:00 → 14:15 Where Big Science Meets Social Science

Speaker: Prof. Mark Thomson (CERN)

14:20 → 15:30 Session 3: Evidence for Science Policy: What can Public R&D do for Innovation and Growth?

Moderator: Fiona Larner (Head of Monitoring and Evaluation, The British Academy)

15:30 → 16:45 Session 4 - Roundtable Discussion: Socio-Economic Impact Assessment for Future Big Science Investments

Chair and Lead Discussant: Prof. Massimo Florio (University of Milan)

Format: 10min initial kick-off on the importance of evidence for future projects, followed by a moderated roundtable with 4 rounds of interventions

16:45 → 18:15 (optional) Tour of Central London

18:30 → 20:00 Keynote Lecture (LSE Public Lecture)

Convener: Prof. Larry Kramer (London School of Economics and Political Science)

18:30 From Curiosity to Prosperity: Sharing the Gains of Science

Why should governments back “Big Science” when discoveries are uncertain and the benefits may seem distant from taxpayers’ daily lives? In this public lecture, France Anne Córdova—astrophysicist and former Director of the US National Science Foundation, NASA Chief Scientist, and President of the Science Philanthropy Alliance—explores how curiosity-driven research and the large infrastructures that enable it deliver value well beyond the lab.

Drawing on international experience, she will examine why these projects are often built through cross-border collaboration even as costs and operations are concentrated in particular places, and how this geography shapes debates about accountability, fairness, and who benefits.

The talk will consider practical ways to assess impacts beyond core science—from procurement and supply chains to knowledge spillovers, skills formation and entrepreneurship—and how public policy, partnerships and philanthropy can help measure and maximise that value locally and nationally.

Designed for a wide audience, the lecture addresses the central question facing science policy today: how to connect frontier discovery to broad societal benefit while maintaining the long-term ambition that keeps science moving forward.

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Speaker: France Anne Córdova (President, Scientific Philanthropy Alliance)

Chair: Larry Kramer (President and Vice-Chancellor, London School of Economics and Political Science)

Respondents:

• Maria Cristina Russo (Deputy Director-General for Innovation, Prosperity and International Cooperation, DG Research and Innovation, European Commission)
• Mark Thomson (Director General, CERN)
• Riccardo Crescenzi (Professor in Economic Geography, London School of Economics and Political Science)

Tuesday 21 April

09:15 → 09:45 Light Breakfast

09:45 → 11:00 Session 5 - Roundtable Discussion: Knowledge Spillovers through Big Science Procurement

Chair and Lead discussant: Prof. Elvira Uyarra (University of Manchester)

Format: 10-minute introductory presentation, followed by a moderated roundtable with four rounds of interventions

11:00 → 11:20 Coffee break

11:20 → 12:30 Session 6 - Roundtable Discussion: Sustainability of Big Science

Moderated by Prof. Jonathan Pershing (London School of Economics and Political Science)

Format: A moderated roundtable with four rounds of interventions

12:30 → 12:40 Closing remarks

Speaker: Prof. Riccardo Crescenzi (London School of Economics and Polical Science)

12:45 → 13:30 Light Lunch