Brexit: calls for reassurance

Researchers are among those most concerned with the impact the upcoming Brexit will have on their work, and on cross-border scientific collaborations in particular. Last week, seven UK academies published a statement on research and innovation after the EU Referendum, saying: “The result of the EU Referendum presents a challenge to maintaining this excellence. The current uncertainty is having immediate implications and raises many questions.” Sir Venki Ramakrishnan, president of the UK’s Royal Society, now told BBC Newsnight in an interview that the UK government needs to “nip post-Brexit uncertainty in the bud”. 

“We’re hearing about UK researchers being excluded from collaborations because their other EU collaborators don’t want to take on a UK-based researcher because they don’t know what their status will be,” said Ramakrishnan. “Of course, this isn’t strictly speaking legal because we are still part of the EU. But you can’t police this. If somebody doesn’t want to take on a British researcher because they think it’s too risky, they simply won’t.”

To relieve the doubt, he continued, “the UK could simply say if there are UK-based researchers who apply for EU funding now, then we will underwrite that funding until the end of the grant, regardless of what happens with negotiations. That wouldn’t cost a lot of money, but it would certainly resolve this uncertainty about their status.”

Many science representatives had expressed their dismay at the result of the UK referendum in June.

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