The year-long UK-EU dispute over the readmission of British applicants to Europe’s top scientific programme caused a brain drain of talent and the loss of millions in research funding, researchers claim.
The UK has already missed the first two and a half years after failing to reach an agreement with Brussels and secure its place in Horizon EU 2021-2027, an ambitious €95.5bn joint research scheme spanning sciences and humanities.
Although British researchers can still formally apply for EU funding, as long as the UK remains a non-associated country they will miss out on grant money.
Michele Coti Zelati, 38, a reader at Imperial College London, is one of the 20 UK-based researchers who in 2021 secured a €1.5m grant offered by the European Research Council (ERC) which they had to give up.
He said: “Applying for funding that you don’t know if you will ever receive is discouraging.
“There is certainly some frustration, especially because the application takes a long time, it’s not something you do in an afternoon.”
In May 2021 the ERC let successful UK applicants know that to access funding they had to transfer their grants to eligible institutions outside the country.
According to ERC figures, of the 395 grants offered to UK researchers between 2021 and 2022, five are currently considering a transfer, 41 were already transferred abroad and 337 had to be terminated because the leading applicant decided to remain in the UK.
Coti Zelati considered moving back to Europe and described those stressful months of his life as a constant exchange of emails, phone calls and trips to Europe.
After deciding that moving abroad was not a viable option, he obtained alternative funding from the Engineering and Physical Sciences Research Council (EPSRC) to carry out his project in the field of mathematics.
In November 2021 the UK government stepped in with its own funding scheme, the Horizon Europe Guarantee, issuing grants worth £394.3 million in total to 273 of those ERC projects.
But for many British researchers the alternative offered by the scheme does not make things any better.
Pietro Sormanni, 35, leader of the Sormanni Lab, a team of scientists involved in biomedical research at the University of Cambridge, explained how in the post-Brexit era tuition fees and visas for European students are damaging the country’s academic environment.
He said: “Even in a place like Cambridge I have witnessed a substantial drop in the quantity and quality of applications from students who want to come and do a PhD.
“Very few European students apply, so we end up selecting the best ones from a pool of applicants that is much smaller.
“Fortunately, Chinese researchers are not worried about Brexit.”
When asked what they think the future holds for UK academics and innovators, both researchers stressed the importance of a broader European dialogue.
Sormanni said: “Collaboration is key. The consequences of Brexit are extremely negative, not only for academics but for British society as a whole.”
Coti Zelati said: “Research is a collaborative effort, this is fundamental.
“Being part of a European network is important in any field. Isolation cannot lead to anything constructive, it can only slow things down.”
In a report on the UK-EU future relationship published in June 2023, the UK government reiterated that UK association to Horizon EU would be a win-win for both sides.
The report stated: “Our priority is to ensure that the UK’s research and development sector gets the maximum level of support to allow them to continue their ground-breaking research and collaborate with international partners.
“While we hope negotiations will be successful, our participation must be fair for UK researchers, businesses and taxpayers.
“We have set out plans for our bold, ambitious alternative, Pioneer, which we will implement if we are not able to secure association on fair and appropriate terms.”
Featured image: Ousa Chea (@cheaousa)
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They have plenty of uk funds.
Coti Zelati wasn’t considering moving back to Europe. Spoiler: the U.K. is in Europe, just as much as Iceland and Ireland are.
This just shows how silly the EU management is
Well, as we have a scientifically illiterate political class this was pretty much to be expected.