Britain’s participation in Horizon Europe has been at the forefront of the Brexit controversy in Northern Ireland, which means that 143 UK Research Council scholarship recipients this week faced a deadline to either give up their grant or resign. transfer it to an institute in an eligible country. The UK government has pledged a total of around 250 250 million in funding, but a growing number of scientists seem likely to turn down the offer and relocate, along with entire groups of researchers. The ERC said 16 academics had recently informed it that they intended to move their lab abroad or that they were in talks to do so. These researchers, and some others, were given extensions before their scholarships ended. Moritz Treeck, team leader at the Francis Crick Institute in London, who is set to receive € 2 million over five years from the ERC to study the malaria pathogen, is among those considering moving. He said a major drawback of the UK bid was the lack of flexibility in transferring funding internationally. “Personally, he is very angry with me,” he said. “UKRI has really set up a wall for scientists to move funding. “Everything is nationalistic, it has nothing to do with science.” The Guardian informed three other senior academics who were planning to move, who wished to remain anonymous because they were negotiating contracts. A biology professor at a leading university who received a € 2 million grant said the stalemate over the UK’s involvement in EU programs was already “enormously subversive”. “I feel sad that I was put in this position,” he said. “Either I leave with huge personal and professional costs, or I stay and miss opportunities for a career change. This was supposed to be. A huge achievement and recognition of our position as scientists. On the contrary, I feel very anxious. “ Another said the offer to cover the 2m-euro funding it owed to explore the roots of populism in the 21st century would not replace the prestige of ERC grants, widely regarded as the Champions League of academic scholarships. “The ERC is a label that is internationally recognized as an excellence,” he said. “For me, as an immigrant from Latin America, it really is something that changes my career in Europe. I worked on this proposal for two years and I did not want to give up something that I really struggled to get “. A third senior scientist, who plans to transfer a € 2 million grant to study the animals’ response to climate change at an institute outside the UK, said: “My main motivation for choosing to move is that I do not have trust in UK government institutions and processes after what I have seen since I moved here. “ The loss of these academics is a blow to the UK Government’s proposed “bold, global alternative to Horizon”. This week, Science Minister George Freeman called on the EU not to “arm science for politics” ahead of a meeting in Brussels, but said the UK was ready to move on with Plan B if the dispute was not resolved. . Others in the UK have said they are at a dead end, with little clarity as to when UKRI funding will be available. “We have not heard at all,” said Professor Tom Sheldon, an ecologist at Oxford University who was awarded a € 3.1 million grant to study the impact of human-induced climate change on the timing of seasonal events in Wytham Woods, Oxford. nothing. , which is one of the worrying things. “It’s like a black hole.” Sheldon said funding uncertainty meant he could not start hiring the four doctoral students, four postdoctoral fellowships and technicians needed for the project, and as research focused on seasonal phenomena, this could delay the work. by one year. “These are great research projects, you can not just recruit people to start the next day,” he said. “It’s extremely destabilizing.” A spokesman for the Ministry of Enterprise, Energy and Industrial Strategy said: “We recognize that EU delays in formalizing the UK’s connection to Horizon Europe have led to uncertainty for researchers, businesses and innovators based in the United Kingdom. That is why the government has guaranteed funding for eligible, successful Horizon Europe applicants who are expected to sign grant agreements by December 2022 and who have not been able to sign grant agreements with the EU. “The guarantee means that eligible, successful candidates will receive the full value of their funding at the UK host institution for the duration of their scholarship.”
title: “Brexit Controversy Could Lead To Senior Scientists Leaving The Uk Scientific Policy " ShowToc: true date: “2022-12-07” author: “Camelia Jaramillo”
Britain’s participation in Horizon Europe has been at the forefront of the Brexit controversy in Northern Ireland, which means that 143 UK Research Council scholarship recipients this week faced a deadline to either give up their grant or resign. transfer it to an institute in an eligible country. The UK government has pledged a total of around 250 250 million in funding, but a growing number of scientists seem likely to turn down the offer and relocate, along with entire groups of researchers. The ERC said 16 academics had recently informed it that they intended to move their lab abroad or that they were in talks to do so. These researchers, and some others, were given extensions before their scholarships ended. Moritz Treeck, team leader at the Francis Crick Institute in London, who is set to receive € 2 million over five years from the ERC to study the malaria pathogen, is among those considering moving. He said a major drawback of the UK bid was the lack of flexibility in transferring funding internationally. “Personally, he is very angry with me,” he said. “UKRI has really set up a wall for scientists to move funding. “Everything is nationalistic, it has nothing to do with science.” The Guardian informed three other senior academics who were planning to move, who wished to remain anonymous because they were negotiating contracts. A biology professor at a leading university who received a € 2 million grant said the stalemate over the UK’s involvement in EU programs was already “enormously subversive”. “I feel sad that I was put in this position,” he said. “Either I leave with huge personal and professional costs, or I stay and miss opportunities for a career change. This was supposed to be. A huge achievement and recognition of our position as scientists. On the contrary, I feel very anxious. “ Another said the offer to cover the 2m-euro funding it owed to explore the roots of populism in the 21st century would not replace the prestige of ERC grants, widely regarded as the Champions League of academic scholarships. “The ERC is a label that is internationally recognized as an excellence,” he said. “For me, as an immigrant from Latin America, it really is something that changes my career in Europe. I worked on this proposal for two years and I did not want to give up something that I really struggled to get “. A third senior scientist, who plans to transfer a € 2 million grant to study the animals’ response to climate change at an institute outside the UK, said: “My main motivation for choosing to move is that I do not have trust in UK government institutions and processes after what I have seen since I moved here. “ The loss of these academics is a blow to the UK Government’s proposed “bold, global alternative to Horizon”. This week, Science Minister George Freeman called on the EU not to “arm science for politics” ahead of a meeting in Brussels, but said the UK was ready to move on with Plan B if the dispute was not resolved. . Others in the UK have said they are at a dead end, with little clarity as to when UKRI funding will be available. “We have not heard at all,” said Professor Ben Sheldon, an ecologist at Oxford University who was awarded a € 3.1 million grant to study the impact of man-made climate change on the timing of seasonal events in Wytham Woods, Oxford. nothing. , which is one of the worrying things. “It’s like a black hole.” Sheldon said funding uncertainty meant he could not start hiring the four doctoral students, four postdoctoral fellowships and technicians needed for the project, and as research focused on seasonal phenomena, this could delay the work. by one year. “These are great research projects, you can not just recruit people to start the next day,” he said. “It’s extremely destabilizing.” A spokesman for the Ministry of Enterprise, Energy and Industrial Strategy said: “We recognize that EU delays in formalizing the UK’s connection to Horizon Europe have led to uncertainty for researchers, businesses and innovators based in the United Kingdom. That is why the government has guaranteed funding for eligible, successful Horizon Europe applicants who are expected to sign grant agreements by December 2022 and who have not been able to sign grant agreements with the EU. “The guarantee means that eligible, successful candidates will receive the full value of their funding at the UK host institution for the duration of their scholarship.”
