EU referendum: UK science wakes up to new future
Tue Jun 28, 2016 11:46:am World
2.1K By sosa hills
UK science will have to fight to make sure it is not an after-thought as Britain renegotiates its relationship with the EU, say research leaders.
The science establishment expressed its "disappointment" on Friday with the referendums outcome.
It had been in the "remain" camp.
The decision to leave the EU now means new structures will have to be put in place if the science sector is to continue to enjoy favourable access to the union's programmes and funding.
Jo Johnson, the minister for universities and science - an "in" supporter - was one of the first to react.
He took to Twitter in the early hours to say: "Big decision. Let's make it work."
Britain's science sector has done increasingly well out of the EU in recent years, receiving €8.8bn in research funding in 2007-2013 versus the €5.4bn it paid in over the same period. And UK-based scientists have won about a fifth of all the grants, in terms of value, from the top-tier programmes run by the European Research Council.
This funding flow-back has been described as being akin to having another Research Council to go with the seven national bodies that presently distribute UK government monies.
To maintain access to the EU stream, Britain will likely now have to get itself some kind of "associated country" status, similar to the positions held by other non-EU countries such as Norway, Switzerland and Israel.
Associated countries pay a GDP membership fee to "join the club", after which, in principle, their scientists can bid for support in the same way as those from full EU member states.
But the exact arrangements will need to be worked out, and are going to depend on wider economic and political factors.
Switzerland, for example, only has "partial" associated status currently because it is not allowing Croatian citizens free access to its labour market.
And having free movement to work collaboratively is central to the way modern science is done.
Scientists for Britain is the group of researchers that has most prominently lobbied for Brexit.
It has argued that the policies of "political union" - and the regulations that flow from Brussels - are not a prerequisite for the UK playing a full role in European scientific collaborations.
The UK can survive and thrive outside full union membership, it contends.
The science establishment expressed its "disappointment" on Friday with the referendums outcome.
It had been in the "remain" camp.
The decision to leave the EU now means new structures will have to be put in place if the science sector is to continue to enjoy favourable access to the union's programmes and funding.
Jo Johnson, the minister for universities and science - an "in" supporter - was one of the first to react.
He took to Twitter in the early hours to say: "Big decision. Let's make it work."
Britain's science sector has done increasingly well out of the EU in recent years, receiving €8.8bn in research funding in 2007-2013 versus the €5.4bn it paid in over the same period. And UK-based scientists have won about a fifth of all the grants, in terms of value, from the top-tier programmes run by the European Research Council.
This funding flow-back has been described as being akin to having another Research Council to go with the seven national bodies that presently distribute UK government monies.
To maintain access to the EU stream, Britain will likely now have to get itself some kind of "associated country" status, similar to the positions held by other non-EU countries such as Norway, Switzerland and Israel.
Associated countries pay a GDP membership fee to "join the club", after which, in principle, their scientists can bid for support in the same way as those from full EU member states.
But the exact arrangements will need to be worked out, and are going to depend on wider economic and political factors.
Switzerland, for example, only has "partial" associated status currently because it is not allowing Croatian citizens free access to its labour market.
And having free movement to work collaboratively is central to the way modern science is done.
Scientists for Britain is the group of researchers that has most prominently lobbied for Brexit.
It has argued that the policies of "political union" - and the regulations that flow from Brussels - are not a prerequisite for the UK playing a full role in European scientific collaborations.
The UK can survive and thrive outside full union membership, it contends.
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