Britain will be relegated from the “Champions League” of science if Brexit results in the UK being excluded from EU research, it was claimed today.
More than 70 top scientists at the Francis Crick Institute, in King’s Cross, said it was vital for the UK to be able to access the EU’s new €100 billion (£79 billion) science programme.
The current EU science programme, Horizon 2020, provides about £1 billion for UK research each year.
Its successor, Horizon Europe, is due to launch in 2020/21, but there are fears that a no-deal Brexit would exclude UK institutions from funds, multinational collaboration — such as major clinical trials — and shared regulations.
There are also concerns that the Crick’s mission to attract the “brightest and best” international scientists is being hampered by their reluctance to remain in a post-Brexit UK once their contracts are completed.
Sir Paul Nurse, the Nobel Prize-winning director of the Crick, said the UK’s strongest scientific collaborations were being put in jeopardy.
Sir Paul said: “For UK science to remain strong after Brexit, we need to continue working closely with our European partners. If we try to go it alone, we risk falling behind.
“Winning European funding is like being in the Champions League, while a domestic alternative is more like the FA Cup or Community Shield.”
The Crick, a £650 million biomedical research centre, investigates the biology underlying health and disease. It has 1,500 scientists and support staff, making it the biggest in Europe. Sir Paul said it had not seen a fall in overseas recruitment since the Brexit referendum. However, once contracts had ended, scientists were wanting to return home rather than seeking an alternative post in London or the UK.
“I think they feel that the UK is turning its back on the rest of the world,” he told the Standard. “That is very damaging for our reputation scientifically.”
