FROM tomorrow we can all learn Swindon’s role in plotting the first trillionths of a second after the Big Bang birthed the Universe.

We can find out about research we’re backing into a substance one atom thick that could solve water shortages forever.

We can inspect delicate but durable pots and cups assembled from ceramic dust in a process that would be impossible without the support of a group of people in a building in North Star.

We can learn about our town’s vital role in the eventual eradication of famine.

And as we’ll be heading for the Central Library to do all that, we might as well change our books, too.

The library is the venue for a new exhibition about the work of Research Councils UK, which is based at Polaris House in North Star and has an annual budget of £3bn.

“This is where a lot of decisions are made,” said RCUK head of communications Alexandra Saxon, “decisions which impact on everybody’s lives.

“The funding decisions we make are ensuring this groundbreaking world class research happens, and the impact of the research touches on people’s lives all around the world. “Whether it’s the latest parenting technique, the latest health initiative or the latest gadget... at the end of the day it comes back to the science and research councils.”

There are seven councils, all headquartered at Polaris: the Arts and Humanities Research Council (AHRC), the Biotechnology and Biological Sciences Research Council (BBSRC), the Economic & Social Research Council (ESRC), the Engineering and Physical Sciences Research Council (EPSRC), the Medical Research Council (MRC), the Natural Environment Research Council (NERC) and the Science and Technology Facilities Council (STFC).

The exhibition aims to show people the sheer breadth of projects whose purse strings lead back to our town.

There’ll be a model of a piece of graphene, for example. It has to be a model because the real thing is a sheet of carbon one atom thick. Andre Geim and Konstantin Novoselov, the Manchester-based scientists who isolated it using a lump of graphite, a roll of sticky tape and a touch of genius, were awarded the 2010 Nobel Prize in Physics for their efforts.

Potential applications range from minuscule electronic components to vast filters easily capable of turning seawater into drinking water.

The research councils also fund projects tackling famine; the exhibition will include an interactive model of a grain silo showing increased crop yields as better species are developed.

Visitors will also see crockery made on a 3D printer using specially developed ceramic powder, in a collaboration between Denby Pottery and the University of the West of England, funded with £100,000 from the AHRC.

AHRC research director Professor Mark Llewellyn said: “It was a good partnership between business and academic research, and we think it’s a good example to show how collaboration is happening.”

The exhibition will also feature a video about the Large Hadron Collider, the vast particle accelerator beneath the Franco-Swiss border, where British scientists funded from North Star have been among those trying to recreate conditions at the beginning of the Universe.

The project’s liaison officer and programme manager in Swindon is Charlotte Jamieson. “As soon as you mention it,” she said, “everybody is interested. They can relate to it. Part of what we do is make people aware.”

Another video will detail research into a type of antibody that may one day be tuned to eradicate cancer and other illnesses. Again, projects are assessed and funding decided in Swindon.

And how are projects assessed? Professor Douglas Kell, chief executive of the BBSRC, explained the process with three questions: is it worth doing, are the proposed experiments capable of producing results and is the project worth the money? He added: “Research and development that the research councils fund is the engine of the economy.”

The RCUK website is at www.rcuk.ac.uk