Science and research

Benefits of EU to UK science

Firstly, the EU leads world science:

• The EU produces over a third of the world’s scientific output.
  • It produces 34% more than the US and that gap has grown by 4% over the last six years (UNESCO, 2015).
• Evidence to the Lords’ inquiry into EU membership and UK science was clear that the EU had overtaken the US as the home of “big science”.
• The EU science budget had tripled over the last decade. The EU put 8% of its budget into Horizon 2020, which was over €11 billion a year for the 2014-20 financial plan.

Secondly, EU membership benefited UK science in three main ways:

• International collaboration within the EU
  • Working together across borders is becoming an increasingly common and effective way to solve major challenges. UK researchers could work with the best partners across the EU.
  • Freedom of movement of people and a common legislative framework made cross-border collaboration within the EU much easier than with the rest of the world.
• Global networking and productivity
  • From 2007-2013, the EU science programme involved 170 countries worldwide.
  • European-led projects attract laboratories from around the world as secondary partners, increasing the global networking power of UK science.
  • 62% of the UK’s research outputs are now international collaborations (compared to 39.6% for the US). 
  • According to a 2013 UK government report, the UK’s increasing internationalisation had put it ahead of the US for science productivity.
• Funding
  • EU funds made up 17% of the total science research grants in UK Higher Education Institutes (HEIs). Most importantly, 73% of the increase in HEI science funding from 2007-14 came from EU sources.
  • UK government spending on research and development (R&D) in the UK had been declining, falling from 0.56% of GDP in 2009 to 0.49% of GDP in 2013 (according to CaSE ). The average spending on R&D in OECD countries in 2012 was 0.7% of GDP, while the EU average was 0.64%.
  • Intensity of science activity (the number of researchers as a percentage of the population) correlates with public funding of science (see Figure 10.2).

Figure 10.2: Government investment in R&D and researchers (2010 – 2011)

Sources:

UNESCO Science Report, Towards 2030, 2015

Science and Technology Committee, House of Lords, EU membership and UK science, Second report 2015-2016, April 2016

Brexit impact

Simply put, Brexit meant losing these very valuable benefits.

As the President of the Royal Society observed:

“In the past, UK science has been well supported by EU funding. This has been an essential supplement to UK research funds. In the upcoming negotiations we must make sure that research, which is the bedrock of a sustainable economy, is not short changed, and the Government ensures that the overall funding level of science is maintained.

“One of the great strengths of UK research has always been its international nature, and we need to continue to welcome researchers and students from abroad. Any failure to maintain the free exchange of people and ideas between the UK and the international community including Europe could seriously harm UK science.

“Finally, many global challenges can only be tackled by countries working together and it is easier to work together when policy and regulation are consistent.  In negotiating a new relationship with the EU we must ensure that we do not put unnecessary barriers in place that will inhibit collaborations.”
Venki Ramakrishnan, President of the Royal Society

Sources:
HMG, Horizon 2020: what it is and how to apply for funding, 31 January 2020
Osswald and Pierk, Brexit! The Effect of Political Risk on International Research Collaborations of Firms and Research Institutions, 2 October 2020

Four major Brexit losses

Brexit would lead to four major losses.

(i) Loss of access to talent:

• Loss of freedom of movement with the EU, meant the UK would be hiring from the EU in the same way as from the rest of the world. Non-EU science workers now go through extensive bureaucracy from the UK Home Office.
• The free-flow of talent and easy collaboration would give way to the uncertain, stressful and costly red-tape of the Home Office.
• In the “science and maths” higher education workforce in the UK, 21% were from the EU and played a key role in UK science education. For more information on EU citizens in the UK workforce please see the section on immigration.

(ii) Loss of participation:

• There were no changes to the UK’s status in Horizon 2020 until the end of the transition period on 1 January 2021.
  • Subsequent changes depended on whether the EU agreed that the UK could participate in new Horizon programmes, which would run from 2021 to 2027.
• Brexit made the UK less attractive as an international collaboration partner.
  • An October 2020 research paper has found that UK firms had decreased their international research collaborations by about 50%, while European firms had increased theirs.
• Future UK participation in the EU science programme and all the associated multinational collaborations and talent exchanges was not guaranteed. Some countries (e.g. Switzerland, Norway, Israel) buy into the EU science programme from outside.
• It seemed likely that the EU would cherry-pick parts of the programme away from the UK to best serve its own institutions and researchers.

(iii) Loss of influence over EU science policy and regulation:

• The UK no longer has input to EU science policy (e.g. patient data, clinical trials, stem cell research, climate change). 
• Similarly, the UK loses input to the development of the EU science programme or the EU laws that the UK would have to adopt to work across borders effectively.
• There was a risk that European science infrastructure and science-based companies would leave the UK to be based in or to establish centres inside the EU.
  • As a result, the UK would become less attractive to science-based companies.
  • Pre-TCA, some had already put in place contingency plans, such as moving parts of their business activity out of the UK to preserve EU collaboration.

(iv) Loss of funding:

• The loss of EU funding to UK science and higher education would have a substantial effect.
• To mitigate the harms:
  • the government’s stated target (2.4% of GDP) of growing public and private investment to nearer the level of the UK’s international peers from a low base would have mitigated this risk. However investment stagnated as a result of Brexit (see the main section on investment).
  • the Treasury encouraged UK organisations to apply for funding under EU schemes.  It also stated that it intended to underwrite funding of all awards made while the UK was still a member of the EU.

Royal Society’s post-Brexit aspirations

The Royal Society identified three principal aspirations for UK government policy to mitigate the effects of Brexit.

• People mobility and collaboration. Mobility of talent is crucial to the conduct of cutting-edge research and innovation.  The UK must continue to be able to access easily the EU-wide talent pool. It provides 17% of our university staff and over two thirds of the founders of UK based start-ups. We must also ensure that the UK continues to collaborate with European partners. Individuals with skills essential to the research endeavour should travel with ease and maintain and build the international networks that are central to its progress.
• Policy and regulation. It is critical that we identify areas of regulation where continued alignment with EU rules is most important for the UK. Where we choose to do so, UK experts should continue to be able to influence EU policy development. We should take the opportunity to pioneer new regulatory approaches on emerging technologies, and to take a leading position on international markets.
• Funding. Investment is crucial to maintaining a successful research and innovation system.  Leaving the EU must not lead to any reduction in funding for UK research. EU programmes currently provide about one sixth of the UK’s funding for research.

In February 2018, CaSE provided further detail on these three areas in its evidence to the Science and Technology Committee Enquiry. See the CaSE evidence base and the submission to the House of Commons Select Committee on Science and Technology.

See also: EU-UK Trade Agreement (TCA)

Rejoining Horizon Europe

In September 2023, the Sunak government announced that the UK had rejoined Horizon Europe and the Copernicus programme as an associate member from 1 January 2024.

Horizon Europe is the EU’s flagship funding programme for research and innovation projects for the years  2021 to 2027.  The programme has a budget of £80 billion. Copernicus is one of the EU space programmes, covering earth observation through satellite, land, sea and air surveillance systems.

The UK will pay an operational contribution, of 18% of the EU’s budget for each of the programmes in which the UK participates (as well as a 2% to 4% participation fee). However, the UK pays no financial contributions into Horizon for the first three years, but British scientists can bid for grants immediately. In its first year, the UK won grants of £500 million for nearly 3,000 UK-led projects.