From: Laura Wheeler <[log in to unmask]>
Date: Tue, 28 Jun 2016 15:24:39 +0100

Consensus & Unity:

Almost every major university city voted to remain as part of the EU
and understandably, there is major concern amongst its number today.
The voting pattern showed a strong consensus from the national
academic community  that membership of the European Union brings both
collaborative and financial benefits to the UK research base.

Collaboration is King:

Our recent report showed that research carried out in collaboration
with international partners has considerably more impact that that
carried out by a single country and highlights the rapid growth of EU
and global collaboration, from less than 10% to more than half of all
academic research. Today, the majority of our international
collaborative partners in research are in other EU member states and
this is the fastest growing part of the research base. Collaborative
research also has a far greater impact than other research activity.
The EU, although not perfect has been a driver for collaboration.

Research Funding – What Next?

Funded projects will remain in place and many have a time-line beyond
the two year Brexit schedule, once that is triggered. These are funded
commitments that take us as much as five and ten years down a path
while new arrangements are being agreed.

As our data has shown and has been widely publicised in recent weeks,
the UK risks losing EU research funding to the tune of £1 billion per
year.  Currently, a quarter of all public funding for research* in the
UK comes from the European Union.  In 2015, the amount of new grant
funding awarded to the UK was £967 million.

Dr Daniel Hook, Managing Director of Digital Science and author
of,‘Examining Implications of Brexit for the UK Research Base’

“Digital Science now  calls upon the government to commit to
maintaining the current funding level at the very least,  in order to
protect the UK’s research base, so that we don’t become the poor
cousin of Europe.  Further, we believe that the government should
target resources specifically to safeguard the UK’s ability to
collaborate internationally with funding structured and targeted
towards support of the UK as a collaborative hub on a global stage.

To ensure that UK research does not falter and to prevent uncertainty
as to whether the UK continues to be a good place to do research, we
need as soon as possible a very firm commitment, from the Treasury and
BIS, that funding for research, collaboration, training, and mobility
will be sustained by a redirection into the science budget of the
money previously flowing through Brussels.  That commitment should be
bi-partisan and is needed now, not in two years’, because research is
not a volatile market. It absolutely needs those planning horizons and
we absolutely need to keep our regional and global links.”

Dr Jonathan Adams, Chief Scientist at Digital Science and author
of‘Benefits and Implications of EU and Global Collaboration by UK
Universities’

“Knowledge is generated by international teams, and international
collaboration is the only way to be part of this. We call on the
government to augment the science budget with resources to sustain
productive engagement with European programmes and partners with a
package of clear well-defined funding to ensure our researchers can
sustain links with our European colleagues, travel and work abroad to
gain vital experience and continue to develop new partnerships.”

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