BREXIT AND SCIENTIFIC COOPERATION: European scientists must defend European values, THE

Sign in (or register) to the THE to read the full article by Robert-Jan Smits:

"Brexit or no Brexit, scientists across the continent have an obligation to keep standing up for ideals such as integrity, trust and cooperation, writes the European Union’s former director-general of research".

"In relation to Brexit specifically, I would make these observations. There are currently some 32,000 EU nationals working and 12,000 European PhD students studying at UK institutions. Between 2005 and 2014, 450,000 research papers were co-authored by British and European researchers. Under Horizon 2020, 12,000 British participants are expected to receive around €9 billion. More than 2,300 British researchers are involved as experts in the evaluation of project proposals. These figures tell you how strong the cooperation is between British researchers and their colleagues from the Continent. And this cooperation is the result of many years of networking, mutual respect, partnership and friendship. Some British politicians think that you can replace such bonds overnight by “going global”, but this is just naive... There is, however, some light on the horizon. In its proposal for the next framework programme, Horizon Europe, the commission has established the legal basis for the UK’s full association. Therefore, I hope that there will be an orderly Brexit that will allow this to happen – though even better, of course, would be no Brexit at all. Whatever politicians in their wisdom decide to do, scientists and representatives of the science system from the UK and the rest of Europe will always cooperate".