Defence Science and Technology Laboratory

The Defence Science and Technology Laboratory (Dstl) is a trading fund of the Ministry of Defence of the United Kingdom. Responsibility for Dstl lies with the Minister for Defence Equipment, Support and Technology, currently Philip Dunne. The Dstl Board is chaired by Sir Richard Mottram.

Dstl's stated purpose is "to maximise the impact of science and technology for the defence and security of the UK".

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, initially 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, although a small portion comes from other government departments and commercial sources. According to 2009/10 figures, around 89% of Dstl's income comes from MOD. The remaining 11% of income comes from other government departments (64%) and non-exchequer sources (36%).

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

Dstl consists of the following operational departments:


 * Air and Weapons Systems
 * Biomedical Sciences
 * Detection
 * Environmental Sciences
 * Information Management
 * Joint Systems
 * Land Battlespace Systems
 * Naval Systems
 * Physical Sciences
 * Policy and Capability Studies
 * Security Sciences
 * Sensors and Countermeasures

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 other government departments and agencies including the Home Office and Department for Transport. Dstl undertakes research with both industry and academia to achieve its role.

Following a review and consultation process initiated by MOD's Chief Scientific Advisor, Dstl become responsible for the formulation and commission of all 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.

Current locations
Dstl's current sites include:


 * Alverstoke, Hampshire (as a tenant of the Institute of Naval Medicine)
 * Fort Halstead, Kent (until 2016)
 * Porton Down, Wiltshire (headquarters)
 * Portsdown West, Hampshire
 * Harwell, Oxfordshire (within the science and innovation campus)

Ploughshare Innovations
In April 2005 the technology transfer company Ploughshare Innovations Ltd was formed in order to manage and exploit the intellectual property within Dstl. Dstl and Ploughshare Innovations has successfully spun-out several new companies including Acolyte Biomedica Ltd (since acquired by 3m Medical Diagnostics Ltd), Alaska Food Diagnostics Ltd, Enigma Diagnostics Ltd, Lucigen Ltd, ProKyma Technologies Ltd, Sherwood Therapeutics and P2i Ltd.