UK researchers fear they will be locked out of the flagship science programme if negotiations fail.
UK science minister George Freeman said that negotiations on the UK’s involvement in Horizon Europe are at a “crunch point”.Concerns are growing that the United Kingdom is on the cusp of leaving the European Union’s Horizon Europe research programme, the largest collaborative research programme in the world, after the UK science minister gave a speech on 8 June in Brussels that “time is closing” for a positive resolution.
In December 2020, the EU and UK struck an agreement as part of the overall Brexit deal to continue the collaboration in Horizon Europe. But issues concerning the deal’s ‘Northern Ireland protocol’ have stalled its ratification. The UK government and EU continue to disagree on how to implement a border between Northern Ireland and the Republic of Ireland, which is part of the EU.
He added the UK remained “100 per cent committed to the European collaborative research programs,” including the Copernicus Earth-observing programme, in which UK participation has also become uncertain. “I’m not here tonight to tell you that we are walking away,” he said. “But time is closing. We’re reaching a crunch point.
“If we didn’t do that then the grant would be rejected,” says Sheldon. He has not yet received word on the status of his grant, which he says cannot be moved to the EU because it is focused on the UK. “We’re in the dark,” he says. “There’s a feeling that we’ve shot ourselves in the foot.”Freeman said the UK government would fund successful UK Horizon applicants up to December 2022 if an agreement was not reached, and outlined plans for an alternative solution to Horizon in the UK.
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