# Ionospheric Science: An Example of the Importance of Diversity in Approaches to Scientific Research
## 4 Diversity Can Be a Challenge
These services include information on ionospheric impacts to address aviation use of HF radio and GNSS services and were initially supported by three providers: the U.S. Space Weather Prediction Center [41], a consortium called PECASUS composed of European providers led by Finnish Meteorological Institute [42], and a consortium called ACFJ composed of providers based in Australia, Canada, France, and Japan [43]. They were joined in 2021 by a fourth provider in the form of a consortium between China and Russia [44], and it is expected that this support will soon expand to include a provision from South Africa. At a national level, there is also growing involvement of meteorological services in the national provision of space weather reports and forecasts, with examples including the USA, UK, Finland, and Australia. Looking in detail, the UK provides an example of how ionospheric research can benefit from an environment science approach. Prior to 2008, research in solar-terrestrial physics, including studies of Earth's ionosphere, had long been funded as part of a wider astronomy and space programme that was created when the UK's Science Research Council (SRC, later SERC) was established in 1965. That wider programme passed through many evolutions, for example with responsibility for space-based remote sensing of Earth being transferred to the UK's Natural Environment Research Council (NERC) in 1994. By 2008, the astronomy and space programme had become part of the UK's Science and Technology Facilities Council (STFC), which then proposed to cease supporting solar-terrestrial physics with respect to its manifestations on Earth, including studies of the Earth's ionosphere. This was part of a wide set of proposed changes to STFC programmes, many of which received a strong pushback from across the scientific community, even prompting significant debate in Parliament [45]. This pushback led to a review by an independent committee whose report included a recommendation that responsibility for solar-terrestrial physics be transferred to NERC [46]. This proposal was accepted by the Government, and that responsibility (and appropriate funding) was transferred to NERC in 2010. As that change has been implemented over the past decade, ionospheric researchers have had opportunities to bid for diverse forms of funding. Two recent major successes in this area are (a) NERC's role as the UK lead in the new EISCAT_3D incoherent scatter radar [47] and (b) NERC's support of targeted research to develop better ionospheric and thermospheric models [48; 49] and to transition those models into operational use at the UK Met Office [50]. The support from NERC has also included a range of smaller projects, with examples including preparatory research for scientific exploitation of EISCAT_3D [51; 52] and translational research helping industry to assess ionospheric impacts on their use of GNSS [53]. In summary, UK researchers studying Earth's ionosphere (and other Earth-focused aspects of solar-terrestrial physics) are now increasingly linked to an environment science culture that is supportive of the diverse approaches needed to advance both the science and its application to real-world problems. It is a very welcome and positive change--and one that has fit well with the increasing attention given to space weather as part of the UK Government's policy, as shown by the publication in September 2021 of a new national strategy on preparedness for severe space weather conditions [54]. This increasing attention to space weather is mirrored in many other countries, as shown in surveys undertaken by the UN Expert Group on Space Weather. That group submitted a report in February 2022 [55], showing that, of approximately 40 countries that have provided national responses, the vast majority are either already supporting a range of space weather activities or are interested in working with other countries to develop those activities.