UK government sets up Horizon 2020 discrimination hotline

With growing evidence that Britain’s vote to leave the EU is seeing its universities and companies cut out of research collaborations, the UK government has set up a unit in the Department of Business, Innovation and Skills to collect examples of such discrimination.

Jo Johnson, Science Minister is “extremely concerned” about anecdotal reports and has asked for concrete evidence to be compiled. “It’s very clear there should be no discrimination, hard or soft,” he said.

Johnson told the House of Commons Science and Technology Committee he will be speaking to EU research commissioner Carlos Moedas today, Thursday, to “update him on the mood in the scientific community and how it is going.”

The committee also addressed the question of discrimination to Philip Nelson, Chair of Research Councils UK and chief executive of the Engineering and Physical Sciences Research Council, who said he had heard, “multiple stories of some really quite unpleasant things happening.”

Six different vice chancellors have told Nelson stories about different consortia expressing negative reactions to UK researchers. Research Councils UK is compiling its own portfolio of these examples.

Nelson said there is also evidence that the Brexit vote is making the UK less attractive for scientific talent. Glasgow University emailed him on Tuesday to report that a prominent physicist had decided not to move to the UK take up a post in Glasgow because of concerns that his particular field of research would not be properly funded in future.

There are currently 43,000 EU scientists in the UK and 1,300 European Research Council grant holders. It is not clear if the reports of discrimination applies only to a fraction of these and is a knee-jerk reaction to the vote to leave, Nelson said. Research Councils UK intends to monitor grant applications over the coming months to look for signs of discrimination against UK researchers.

Call for stronger statement from Moedas

Meanwhile, the head of University College London (UCL) has called on the European Commission to make a clear and immediate statement denouncing the practice.

“We will ask our government to persuade Carlos Moedas and the Commission to say a lot more,” Michael Arthur, president and provost, told staff at a special Brexit information session on Tuesday.

“At the moment they’ve got a very gentle, bland statement of ‘business as usual’. What we actually want them to say is that they will actively encourage other European partners to keep the participation going with the UK,” he said.

The Commission has stressed that the UK remains a member of the EU and enjoys all the same rights and privileges it did before with regard to participation in European science programmes.

When Brexit was raised during a European Parliament research committee session on Tuesday, Moedas fell back on some other standard responses. “The ball is in the UK camp at the moment,” he said, with reference to beginning negotiations on a withdrawal.  “Anything more would be speculation and unhelpful at this point.”

Getting the EU to speak more persuasively on the matter is the first part of Arthur’s plan to stop EU universities abandoning the UK.

The second part of his “pincer movement” involves asking for the help of research lobbies, particularly the League of European Research Universities (LERU), of which UCL is a member, to spread the word to their members too. “That will do a lot because a lot of our partnerships involve LERU partners,” said Arthur.

LERU put out a statement on Thursday in support of UK research, saying, “In the wake of the referendum, we strongly affirm that UK universities are, and will continue to be, indispensable collaborative partners.  LERU will do everything it can to support this cooperation.”

Harming relationships between UK and EU academics, students and researchers was not the intention of those who campaigned or voted for the UK to leave the EU, LERU noted. "While it is entirely understandable that many are deeply upset by the UK vote, and the harm it may inflict, UK universities campaigned strongly against it."

Given this, LERU said it is "calling upon all its European partners, in particular universities, to continue to work with UK universities, respecting the ongoing full membership of the UK and the firm belief that the post-exit relationship must support academic cooperation.

“We call upon those who review funding applications to see the engagement of UK partners as a desirable feature of projects, rather than a risk or compromise. A pathway to stronger academic cooperation remains not only possible but very desirable. It is completely inappropriate to respond to the referendum by taking decisions that punish UK researchers, or disrupt partnerships,” LERU said.

Do not spite your face

David Price, UCL vice-provost for research at UCL said he is aware of four cases at the university where Brexit has affected consortia building and urged EU universities to keep UCL in their project plans.

“UCL is the most successful university in Europe at gathering funding – side-lining researchers means cutting off your nose to spite your face,” he said. “Just because you are a British applicant doesn’t mean you get a black mark, although there’s no legislating subconscious prejudice among referees.”

Arthur said he expects Brexit will hit at the number of foreign researcher at the university. He called on the new Prime Minister Theresa May to clarify the rights of EU migrants in the UK following Brexit.

May has so far not given assurances on the rights of EU nationals to remain in the UK, in what has been recognised as an early negotiating ploy. “You can sort this out right now. Our advice is please do so,” Arthur said.