Chapter 4: Brexit
71.The UK is currently set to leave the European Union on or before 31 October 2019. At the time of writing, no agreement on the terms of the UK’s departure has been made with the EU that has the support of the House of Commons.
72.Leaving the EU, with or without a deal, will have implications for scientific research in the UK and scientific collaboration with EU countries. We have considered the impact of Brexit on UK science in a previous report. This gave an overview of concerns of the UK science community immediately after the referendum.113
73.There are three aspects of leaving the EU which will have significant implications for research funding in universities: continued access to EU funding, the ability to recruit and retain researchers, and continued access to European networks of collaboration.
EU funding for research
74.In the period 2014–20, the total EU budget for directly supporting research and innovation was estimated to be €120 billion. This was broadly divided into three main parts:
- €74.8 billion for the Horizon 2020 programme
- €40.2 billion in structural funds for R&D activities
- €5 billion for sectoral R&D programmes.114
Additional EU programmes indirectly support research activities, such as the European Fund for Strategic Investment and Erasmus+.115
75.Horizon 2020 is the eighth EU Framework Programme, the predominant EU funding mechanism for funding research, development and innovation. Funding is largely allocated via competitive calls for proposals, which are managed under several schemes and agencies. These include the European Research Council, Marie Skłodowska-Curie Actions, the Small and Medium sized Enterprises instrument and the European Institute of Innovation and Technology. As of August 2018, the UK had received €5.1 billion of funding from Horizon 2020 (14.3% of the total).116
76.The UK is one of the largest recipients of EU research funding, receiving more than the proportion of its EU contribution that is earmarked for research and development.117 In 2007–13, the UK contributed €5.4 billion to EU research and development while it received €8.8 billion. 118 In the latest round of European Research Council grants, one fifth of the successful grants were awarded to researchers in the UK,119 and under Framework Programme 7 the UK received 25.5% of the Marie Skłodowska-Curie Actions total budget.120
77.EU funding is a significant proportion of funding for research in UK universities. In 2017/18 EU funding comprised 11% of research income of UK universities, of a total of €8.2 billion.121 Professor Louise Richardson told us that 11% of the University of Oxford’s research funding was from the European Commission, totalling £63 million last year, and that loss of that funding would be “deeply damaging”.122
Horizon 2020 and Horizon Europe
78.The extent to which the UK will be able to engage with EU research programmes after Brexit depends on the conditions under which the UK leaves the EU. If the UK leaves with the Withdrawal Agreement, it will be able to participate fully in EU programmes including Horizon 2020 and the European Regional Development Fund scheme until December 2020 when the current funding finishes.
79.If the UK leaves the EU without a deal, it will revert to “third country” status. In preparation for the possibility of leaving without a deal, the Government committed on 13 August 2016 to “underwrite funding for approved Horizon 2020 projects applied for before the UK leaves the EU” (the Underwrite Guarantee).123 On 25 October 2016, Jo Johnson MP, then-Minister of State for Universities, Science, Research and Innovation, told us that this funding would be new money, “not money from the existing science ring-fence … it is an additional commitment from the Treasury to underwrite EU research funding.”124
80.On 24 July 2018 the Government also committed to cover funding for successful bids to EU calls open to third countries submitted between the date of exit and the end of 2020 (Post-EU Exit Guarantee Extension).125 The funding guarantee would cover the lifetime of the projects, even if they last beyond December 2020.
81.Third-country participation does not extend to all elements of Horizon 2020 funding, including European Research Council grants and some Marie Skłodowska-Curie Actions.126 With these, the Government said it would consider “what other measures may be necessary to support UK research and innovation in the event that the guarantee and the extension are required.”127
82.Beyond Horizon 2020, the question remains whether the UK intends to associate with its successor programme, Horizon Europe, which will run between 2021–27. The Government’s July 2018 White Paper stated that the UK “wishes to explore association in research and innovation programmes, including Horizon Europe”;128 it has not stated a firm commitment beyond this.
83.The evidence we received suggested a strong desire from the research community to associate with Horizon Europe. Dr Tim Bradshaw was clear that the Russell Group wanted the UK to associate with Horizon Europe.129 Imperial College London wrote that “we need certainty on access to research collaboration frameworks” and so “we urge the government to seek Associated Country status for the UK in the future Horizon Europe programme.”130 This reflects the evidence received by the EU Home Affairs Sub-Committee earlier this year for its inquiry into the impact of Brexit on the UK’s participation in Horizon 2020 and Erasmus+, leading to the recommendation that the Government should “confirm whether it will seek full association to the 2021–2027 Erasmus and Horizon Europe programmes as soon as possible, to maximise certainty and stability for UK students and researchers, and to enable them to plan for any changes.”131
84.The minister told us he had “made a very clear statement of intent that I want to see us associated to the future Horizon Europe programme”, but “it is not yet possible to associate to the regulation” as it had not been finalised.132
85.We urge the Government to associate the UK with Horizon Europe as soon as possible, to ensure certainty and stability for researchers in universities and industry.
Funding post-Brexit
86.Despite the assurances on Horizon 2020, the science community remained concerned that UK universities will lose out on important funding streams after the UK has left the EU, hindering their ability to conduct research. We heard that the UK’s participation in EU projects is already suffering due to uncertainties surrounding Brexit. Professor Sir Leszek Borysiewicz told us that “there has been a substantial fall in the number of awards” as well as a “fall in the number of UK participations or even invitations to lead joint programmes in the EU.”133
87.Further, witnesses were concerned that the total amount of funding available after Brexit would be reduced, given that the UK is currently a net beneficiary of EU funding. Lord Willetts said:
“My understanding of the Treasury’s current position is that it thinks it will compensate to the amount that we put in, not the amount we get out. To simplify, if we put in a billion pounds and get out £1.5 billion, I think the current Treasury position is the science community will get £1 billion”.134
Dr Alex Marsh said that UKRI were “very clear that what matters for our R&D system and for the outcomes that we seek to deliver is the amount of investment that we get out of the programmes”, and they were putting this case to the Treasury.135
88.We heard that UK researchers may not be able to access European Research Council grants after Brexit. As explained to us by the minister, the current funding guarantees “do not cover all forms of funding, particularly European Research Council funding, Marie Skłodowska-Curie Actions and the SME instrument.”136 The UK is currently very successful at winning European Research Council grants, which are awarded solely on research excellence.
89.Professor Roger Kain told us it was a “huge advantage” that the European Research Council made funding decisions on the basis of research excellence, as it meant “discovery research that is peer-reviewed and comes through as excellent, is fundable,” and “the loss of that will be difficult to make up.”137 Professor Peter Bruce said that if the UK lost access to European Research Council funding, discovery research would be “one of the biggest casualties.”138
90.Witnesses told us that the European Research Council funds areas of research that are not as well funded by UK sources. Professor Louise Richardson said the European Research Council “funds all these areas that are difficult to get funding for”, including “early-career researchers … curiosity-driven research, the humanities and the social sciences”.139 Dr Sarah Main told us that 30–40% of all funding for space and astronomy science in the UK comes from European Research Council funding.140
91.Concerns were raised about funding for arts, humanities and the social sciences, which we were told the EU funds particularly well. Professor Sir Leszek Borysiewicz told us that 39% of funding for archaeology research in the UK came from EU sources,141 while Professor Roger Kain explained that 20% of the Horizon 2020 budget went towards arts, humanities and social sciences research, compared to only 9% of UK public funding.142
92.Professor Louise Richardson said “should the money Britain gives to the EU be brought back and distributed nationally” it would be “distributed in a very different way: towards more applied, short- and medium-term government goals and much less towards the humanities, the social sciences, the curiosity-driven research that is so critical to us.”143 Professor Peter Bruce echoed this, saying that as research excellence was the only criterion for European Research Council grants, there was no “strategic element” to the decision making; if UK researchers could no longer access that funding, “we need to replicate it with a UK funding council which is driven by the discovery agenda and not by a strategic agenda.”144 Professor Roger Kain said that this should be administered independently from UKRI and should have some oversight from the national academies.145 However, Dr Tim Bradshaw doubted that the UK “could ever genuinely replicate the ERC as a UK-only fund,” given the international reputation European Research Council grants offer.146
93.Administering such funding centrally post-Brexit may add to the concerns outlined in paras 63–64 around the erosion of academic independence if the teaching grant value is determined centrally.
94.Finally, funding for scientific infrastructure and facilities may be affected when the UK leaves the EU. Professor Richardson told us that “Brexit represents a serious threat to our ability to retain access to funding for large-scale scientific infrastructure, which can operate only at the transnational level”.147 Funding facilities is important to enable collaboration between universities and industry: Professor Mark Smith told us that the European Regional Development Fund had been “hugely important in creating physical spaces that have allowed us to develop incubators and space for SMEs”; there was “not any direct equivalent” for this type of funding.148 He warned that “unless these European funds are replaced post-Brexit through new funding mechanisms, such as Shared Prosperity, there will be a significant decrease in research and innovation collaborations between universities and SMEs.”149
95.The Government should ensure that once the UK has left the EU the level of funding the UK currently receives from the EU for research is matched in full. As the UK is a net beneficiary of EU research funding this amount will be greater than the amount the UK currently contributes to the EU research pot.
96.Public funding for research in universities after Brexit should seek to replace not just the amount of funding but the areas it supports, like discovery research and scientific infrastructure and facilities. It is important to the scientific community that the basis for awarding funding is research excellence.
Recruitment and retention of researchers
97.The ability of UK universities to recruit and retain researchers, including research students, after Brexit was a concern raised by almost all witnesses. We were told there were two elements of Brexit that affected the attractiveness of the UK to international and EU researchers: the post-Brexit funding environment and post-Brexit immigration policy.150 When asked which of these was the more pressing concern, Professor Louise Richardson told us “They will both be dreadful. I cannot say which will be worse. If people do not want to come here because there is no research funding, the fact that they cannot get here will not matter so much.”151
98.Of the UK’s academic workforce, 18% are non-UK EU citizens and 13% are from outside the EU.152 Dr Tim Bradshaw told us that a high proportion of academics in the Russell Group universities were non-UK EU citizens, including 40% in economics and econometrics, 37% in modern languages, 34% in IT and computer science, 31% in maths and 25–27% of chemists, physicists and bioscientists.153
99.The Government’s future skills-based immigration system White Paper, published on 19 December 2018, set out plans to end free movement for EU citizens into the UK and to introduce a new single immigration system.154 Key proposals included the introduction of new work routes for skilled and temporary workers, and for visa eligibility to be determined by minimum salary and skill levels. Under the proposals, the same visa and immigration rules as for non-EEA migrants would apply to EEA nationals coming to study in the UK, including PhD students.
100.Witnesses were concerned that some of these proposals would mean talented researchers would be unable to come and work in UK universities, and would discourage EU citizens from remaining in the UK. This is problematic because the UK needs more researchers to meet its R&D investment target of 2.4% of GDP, as explained in Chapter 2.
101.We heard that there is already evidence that EU citizens are leaving, or thinking of leaving, the UK. Professor Michael Arthur told us that, since approximately one-third of University College London’s postdoctoral staff were European, they would expect them, under ordinary circumstances, to constitute one-third of leavers. He said “that was the case in the year of the referendum, but in the following year it rose to 37% of leavers, and the year after that it was 40%.”155 The Campaign for Science and Engineering said that in one survey of EU nationals working in the UK “nearly 70% of respondents said they are thinking of leaving the UK because of Brexit”. It noted instances of researchers turning down prestigious research fellowships at organisations such as the Wellcome Trust and Cancer Research UK, citing uncertainty around Brexit as a key factor.156
102.There were concerns that since the referendum EU citizens are not applying for jobs in the UK in the first place. Professor Peter Bruce told us that, whilst he had been involved in research for over 30 years, it was only in the last two years that he had no applicants from Spain, France or Germany for advertised postdoctoral jobs157. Professor Louise Richardson said that the University of Oxford had noticed “significantly fewer EU nationals applying for jobs that we advertise”.158 Professor Michael Arthur told us that while a “prestigious scheme” for early career researchers at UCL usually attracted a third of applications from the EU, in 2018, for the first time, there were no applications from non-UK EU nationals.159
103.The loss of EU researchers from UK universities may have an impact on research funding. Professor David Lomas explained:
“We do very well with international grants and EU grants but only 25% of the UK’s starting grants in 2018 went to UK nationals. Around 70% went to people who were non-EU who won their money from the EU to spend it here, and 5% went to people who won the money in the EU and came to Britain.”160
Dr Tim Bradshaw told us that Brexit could cause this to “work the other way” and that “if the UK is no longer a hospitable environment, [and] it is underinvesting in facilities and equipment and teaching,” researchers might “take their ERC money away with them” to other EU countries.161 The risk of reduced access to funding once the UK leaves the EU may also cause some EU nationals to leave; Professor Louise Richardson told us that the “moment their research funding is in jeopardy, we do not doubt that they will leave.”162
104.Witnesses were worried about the effect Brexit may have on the likelihood of EU students applying to study in the UK and the likelihood of them staying here afterwards. Professor Michael Arthur told us:
“One of the reasons why UCL is so successful is that for 20-odd years a lot of people have come from Europe and have literally given their lifetimes of scientific expertise to the university and to this country. They are now senior professors. Almost all of them came to this country as PhD students or early-career researchers. I am deeply worried about losing that pipeline of talent for the UK.”163
105.Dr Tim Bradshaw told us that, while EU students made up 8% of the total student population at Russell Group universities, they comprised 15% of postgraduate research students, and those students were “a key pipeline for us to get through to the next stage to early-career researchers, proper research academic careers and research careers with business and elsewhere.”164 Imperial College London said that “a reduction in EU student numbers could affect EU PhD students in particular,” and that “any reduction in EU PhD student numbers would have a severe detrimental impact on the UK research talent pipeline.”165 Professor Luke Georghiou said that at the University of Manchester applications for postgraduate research courses had fallen by 10%.166
106.Professor Julia Buckingham told us that “being attractive to international students is critical,” but that the post-study work visa system was restrictive and made the UK less attractive than other countries.167 The immigration White Paper proposed a slight increase in the time international students could remain in the UK after finishing their studies (up to six months for bachelor’s and master’s students, and up to a year for PhD students), but this may not be enough to encourage students to study in the UK. Professor Buckingham said “we keep talking about our skills shortages; we have trained those people and it would be really great if we could enjoy their talents as well.”168 Numerous witnesses were clear that the UK needed to have a supportive visa and immigration system post-Brexit to ensure the viability of the research talent pipeline.169
107.There were concerns that the minimum salary threshold for skilled workers, which the Migration Advisory Committee recommended keeping at £30,000, will have implications for technicians, a key component of the UK’s research base. The Royal Society reported that 42% of technicians in UK universities earned less than £30,000 in 2017.170 Professor Dame Ann Dowling told the committee that to achieve the Government’s research and development targets the UK will need to recruit more technicians and, at least in the short term, international mobility will be the only way of addressing the shortfall.171 The minister told us he had “already been public about the MAC £30,000 salary cap”172 and in January 2019 he told the House of Commons Science and Technology Committee he wanted to ensure the cap is seen as “quite detrimental for the science community”.173
108.On 24 June 2019 the Home Secretary, Sajid Javid MP, wrote to the Migration Advisory Committee asking it to look further at the salary threshold question. The Home Secretary asked the committee to advise on the mechanism for calculating future salary thresholds, the impact salary thresholds may have in different areas and on exceptions to salary thresholds. One of the issues the committee is asked to advise on is: “what impact salary thresholds might have on sectors that provide high public value to society and the economy but which might not necessarily pay as high wages”.174
109.Retaining the mobility of researchers after Brexit is vital to ensuring the UK can continue to attract the best researchers and meet its research and development goals. The Government must ensure post-Brexit immigration laws do not hinder the ability of UK universities to recruit and retain the scientific staff they require, including technicians earning below the recommended salary threshold. In doing so the Government must also give consideration to amending immigration laws relating to families and dependants of those scientific staff.
European networks and collaboration
110.Witnesses were not just concerned about access to funding and the mobility of researchers; access to networks and collaborations across the EU are viewed as a vital part of the ability of UK universities to conduct high-quality research.175 Professor Julia Buckingham told us:
“Networks are unbelievably important. They take a very long time to build, but are destroyed very easily … What we often do not appreciate is how what happens in one network spreads into another. You may be working on a research project in Germany and meet other people and link things up. Those links carry on forming the whole time; it is like a complex spider’s web. It is quite difficult to describe, but the value to research is absolutely enormous.”176
111.Professor Peter Bruce explained that being part of such networks within the EU had huge advantages for research, as researchers in the UK can share facilities, equipment and expertise seamlessly:
“Currently, if I have a European grant, I can send a postdoc for six months to work in a French lab or use facilities that they may have in Germany that we do not have in the UK. It is entirely seamless and there are no barriers to doing this. You can do that only if you are fully participating in the European programmes. If we end up not being able to do that, it will have a significant detrimental effect on our collaborative research.”177
112.We heard that uncertainty around Brexit, and some of the proposals so far, risk damaging the UK’s international reputation. Professor Sir Leszek Borysiewicz said that we “have to recognise how the other partners in those networks view the United Kingdom at the present time”. During his discussions with central European countries, it was “clear that because of this uncertainty that [the UK] may no longer be the first country they will contact”. He said that “we have to do the best we can to minimise the perceived or real damage so that we remain the competitive place in which to do R&D in Europe. That means being global in outlook, collaborative in spirit and prepared to engage.”178 Professor Michael Arthur told us that some damage has already been done, with the number of research collaborations having fallen by more than 50% since the Brexit referendum.179
113.We urge the Government to communicate to the EU and the rest of the world that the UK is committed to continuing research collaborations after it has left the EU, and we look forward to seeing the recommendations put forward by Professor Sir Adrian Smith in his review of international research collaboration.
113 Science and Technology Committee, A time for boldness: EU membership and UK science after the referendum, (1st Report, Session 2016–17, HL Paper 85)
114 The Royal Society, UK research and the European Union (December 2015): https://royalsociety.org/-/media/policy/projects/eu-uk-funding/uk-membership-of-eu.pdf [accessed 1 July 2019]
115 Ibid.
116 Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy, Horizon 2020 funding if there’s no Brexit deal (June 2019): https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/horizon-2020-funding-if-theres-no-brexit-deal/horizon-2020-funding-if-theres-no-brexit-deal--2 [accessed 1 July 2019]
117 The Royal Society, UK research and the European Union (December 2015): https://royalsociety.org/-/media/policy/projects/eu-uk-funding/uk-membership-of-eu.pdf [accessed 1 July 2019]
118 Ibid.
119 European Research Council, ERC Advanced Grants 2018 Outcome: Indicative statistics: https://erc.europa.eu/sites/default/files/document/file/erc-2018-adg-statistics.pdf [accessed 1 July 2019]
120 The Royal Society, UK research and the European Union (December 2015): https://royalsociety.org/-/media/policy/projects/eu-uk-funding/uk-membership-of-eu.pdf [accessed 1 July 2019]
121 HESA, ‘Finance record 2017/18—Contents’: https://www.hesa.ac.uk/collection/c17031 [accessed 18 July 2019]
123 Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy, Safeguarding funding for research and innovation (13 August 2016): https://www.gov.uk/government/news/safeguarding-funding-for-research-and-innovation [accessed 1 July 2019]
126 Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy, UK participation in Horizon 2020, December 2018: https://assets.publishing.service.gov.uk/government/uploads/system/uploads/attachment_data/file/766510/horizon-2020-government-overview-december-2018-update.pdf [accessed 1 July 2019]
127 Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy, UK participation in Horizon 2020, 11 December 2018: https://assets.publishing.service.gov.uk/government/uploads/system/uploads/attachment_data/file/766510/horizon-2020-government-overview-december-2018-update.pdf [accessed 1 July 2019]
128 HM Government, The future relationship between the United Kingdom and the European Union, Cm 9593, July 2018: https://assets.publishing.service.gov.uk/government/uploads/system/uploads/attachment_data/file/786626/The_Future_Relationship_between_the_United_Kingdom_and_the_European_Union_120319.pdf [accessed 1 July 2019]
131 European Union Committee, Brexit: the Erasmus and Horizon programmes (28th Report, Session 2017–19, HL Paper 283)
154 HM Government, The UK’s future skills-based immigration system, Cm 9722, December 2018: https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/the-uks-future-skills-based-immigration-system [accessed 1 July 2019]
168 Ibid.
169 Q 41 (Dr Tim Bradshaw). See also Q 23 (Professor Michael Arthur), Q 20 (Sir Leszek Borysiewicz), Q 7 (Professor Louise Richardson), Q 50 (Dr Alex Marsh).
170 The Royal Society et al., £30,000 salary threshold would be detrimental for research and innovation (May 2019): https://royalsociety.org/-/media/policy/Publications/2019/28-05-19-30k-salary-immigration-threshold-explainer.pdf [accessed 1 July 2019]
173 Oral evidence taken before the House of Commons Science and Technology Committee, 30 January 2019 (Session 2017–19), Q 115 (Chris Skidmore MP)
174 Letter from the Home Secretary to the chair of the Migration Advisory Committee, on salary thresholds, 24 June 2019: https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/migration-advisory-committee-welcomes-salary-threshold-commission/the-home-secretarys-commissioning-letter-to-the-chair-of-the-migration-advisory-committee-on-salary-thresholds [accessed 1 July 2019]