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Blighty's EU science funding will remain unchanged until new PM triggers Article 50

Brit boffins are worried about ... well, everything

Science research funding from the European Union to the UK is set to continue until Britain officially terminates its membership of the bloc by triggering Article 50 of the Lisbon Treaty.

The referendum split the nation in half; the leave campaign narrowly won the plebiscite with 51.9 per cent of the vote, leaving 48.1 per cent of voters disappointed.

Scientists in the UK were mostly for remain, with top figures including Stephen Hawking, Martin Rees and Sir Paul Nurse stressing the benefits that the science community will receive by remaining in the EU.

Currently, UK universities receive 15 per cent extra funding on top of what the UK government provides. A report compiled by Digital Science, a technology company which provides software for scientific researchers, estimated that the UK could lose £1bn in research funding.

A big chunk of EU research funding comes from Horizon 2020, the biggest and most ambitious European funding programme that has pledged almost €80bn over seven years. The programme launched in 2014 and will continue until 2020 – by which point it is difficult to predict what the membership status of the UK will be.

Yet, until the UK officially leaves by triggering Article 50, a formal resignation from the EU which takes effect after two years, it remains a member.

Michael Thame, managing editor of Pan European Networks, an independent publishing company that works closely with Horizon 2020 to produce information about its projects, said that until then the funding status of the UK remains unchanged.

The earliest departure for the UK would be in 2018, but could be later depending on negotiations between the UK and other member states.

“In theory, therefore, there is no impact on UK science at least for two years, and Horizon 2020 itself will only run for two years after that. In reality, I imagine any [Horizon 2020] proposal currently being considered that involves UK scientists or institutions will be viewed differently to just a week ago and a likely reduction in the chances of funding being released. That is pure speculation on my part,” he said.

“It is still too soon it seems to have any concrete idea of what will happen today, tomorrow or in the near or far future,” Thame told The Register.

The UK is currently involved in the most Horizon 2020 research projects, participating in 1,655 projects, ahead of Germany (945) and France (812), some of which are scheduled to end in 2020.

Its membership of other major scientific organisations including CERN, the largest particle physics laboratory in the world, or the European Space Agency, also remains unchanged as they are projects that do not rely on the EU.

Another major concern for scientists is the potential for free movement between EU countries to be ended.

Sir Paul Nurse, Chief Executive and Director of the Francis Crick Institute, told the BBC that “for science to thrive it must have access to the single market, and we do need free movement.”

British universities currently employ about 30,000 scientists from EU countries.

Negotiations over the single market and funding issues will not begin until the UK has a new Prime Minister.

In David Cameron’s resignation speech a week ago, he said: “A new negotiation with the European Union will need to begin under a new prime minister. And I think it’s right that this new Prime Minister takes the decision to about when to trigger Article 50 and start the formal and legal process of leaving the EU.” ®

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