Defence Science and Technology Laboratory

History

In July 2001, the Defence Evaluation and Research Agency (DERA) was split into two parts, Dstl and Qinetiq. Dstl was established to carry out science and technology work that is best done within government, while the majority and that suitable for industry was transferred to QinetiQ, a wholly owned government company before being floated on the stock exchange.

Organisation

Dstl is a trading fund owned by the Secretary of State for Defence. Most funding comes from the Ministry of Defence (MOD), while a small portion comes from other government departments and commercial sources. According to 2012/13 figures, 93% of Dstl's income comes from the MOD.

From its creation in 2001 the Chief Executive was Martin J Earwicker until he left in 2006 for the Science Museum. Dr Frances Saunders took over as acting Chief Executive in May 2006 and was appointed as Chief Executive in August 2007.

On 29 June 2011 Dr Saunders announced to staff that her post had been advertised and that she would not be applying. On 13 December 2011 the MOD announced that Jonathan Lyle, Director of the Programme Office at Dstl, would replace Dr Saunders in March 2012.

In 2015 Dstl completed a major reorganisation, merging twelve operating departments into five divisions on 1 April 2015. The motivation behind this change was to enable more coherent and productive delivery to customers and simplify access routes for suppliers.

Operations

Dstl carries out a broad range of work from high-level analysis to support Ministry of Defence policy and procurement decisions, to technical research in defence areas such as biomedical science and electronics, alongside operational work such as forensic analysis of explosives and providing paid volunteer scientists to Iraq and Afghanistan to provide rapid scientific advice to British forces. It has done work for around 40 government departments and agencies including the Home Office and Department for Transport. It undertakes research with both industry and academia to achieve its role.

Following a review and consultation process initiated by MOD's Chief Scientific Advisor, it become responsible for the formulation and commission of MOD's non-nuclear research programme from 1 Apr 2010, under the responsibility of the DST Programme Office. Within the Programme Office are 16 domains with some established as Science and Technology Centres, including Armour and Protection, Cyber and Influence, Counter Terrorism, and CBR (Chemical, Biological and Radiological). These centres fund research via the Centre for Defence Enterprise, also part of the Programme Office.

Within the Strategic Defence and Security Review 2015 was a proposal to create "a Government-backed service designed to help small and medium-sized businesses bring new ideas to market more quickly". In 2016, it was announced by Defence Secretary Michael Fallon that this 'Defence and Security Accelerator' would have access to an £800m innovation fund and build on the 'Centre for Defence Enterprise' model, operating within Dstl.

Current locations

Sites include:

Ploughshare Innovations

In April 2005 the technology transfer company Ploughshare Innovations Ltd was formed to manage and exploit intellectual property within Dstl. Dstl and Ploughshare Innovations have successfully spun-out several new companies including Alaska Food Diagnostics and P2i Ltd.