Amid Brexit row, UK universities face brain-drain; EU threatens to withdraw £250MN funding

The British scientists have been facing hardship as they were not able to withdraw research funding of £250m amid the ongoing row over Brexit. According to a report by The Guardian, British universities are now facing a brain drain as European Research Council (ERC) has warned at least 98 scientists and academics that they might not get the recently approved research funding. It said if the UK’s associate membership of the €80bn Horizon Europe programme would not be ratified within the given time frame, it would be "nearly impossible" for the researchers to collect their funding. 

Notably, Horizon Europe is an EU research and innovation programme that has recently allocated a budget of €95.5 billion for a period of five years. In January, the government announced, "If the delay to the UK association continues, the successful Horizon Europe applicants will receive funding from UKRI regardless of the outcome of the UK’s efforts to associate with Horizon Europe."
Irrespective of the UK government's claims, researchers claimed they were not finding any ways to find alternative EU institutions that could host the funding. The confusion over the current situation resulted in the scientists turning down and exploring some other options for immediate funding.

"ERC is a badge of honour for any researcher"

While speaking to The Guardian, the researchers said they found the condition "devastating" as the ERC is considered one of the most prestigious programmes in the world. Ethan Ilzetzki, an associate professor in economics at the London School of Economics, even called the scholarship "a badge of honour for any researcher". "Higher education institutions on the continent are salivating at the prospect of poaching this talent … higher education will be hurt for years to come if this isn’t resolved," he told the British English daily. "It is a strange choice for the EU. The UK isn't going to notice it immediately. It will take a long time to have any impact. All that happens is a bunch of scientists have a lot of opportunities taken away, or their lives just made a lot more difficult. We’re the only victims," Payam Gammage, a scientist at the Beatson Institute at Glasgow University said. 

Image: Pixabay