Brexit: Boom or bust for British science?

Brexit: Boom or Bust for British Science?

Edinburgh Science Fest – 1st Apr 2017Dr Rob Davidson

@bobbledavidson@scientists4eu

http://www.huffingtonpost.co.uk/2013/09/06/cameron-putin-syria_n_3878460.html

“Britain… invented most of the things worth inventing” – David Cameron 2013

Recent British science

• 1986 – Save British Science• 2005 – Campaign for Science and Engineering

Recent British science

• 1986 – Save British Science• 2005 – Campaign for Science and Engineering

• Science has improved a lot.

UK Science

“…the UK has overtaken the US to rank 1st by field-weighted citation impact… It is likely that recent increases in UK research productivity have, at least to some extent, been driven by the increase in UK international research collaboration, which is also associated with greater citation impact…”

International Comparative Performance of the UK Research Base – 2013

UK ScienceMajority of UK increase in publications comes from international collaborations

Dr Jonathan Adams. From: ‘The Fourth Age of Research’ (2014)

Almost 50% of Publications are international

UK Science

Dr Jonathan Adams. From: ‘The Fourth Age of Research’ (2014)

EU collaboration• 30% of grants for international cooperation• 7800 grants• 87623 grant holders FP7 Monitoring: http://bit.ly/1U8wP7y

EU collaboration

• Over 170 countries• 86% of retained apps from

EU members

• Anyone can ‘access’• Membership is best

FP7 Monitoring: http://bit.ly/1U8wP7y

But 170 countries!!!

Brexit ‘was’ a spectrum

– “Absolutely nobody is talking about threatening our place in the Single Market” – Daniel Hannan MEP

– “Only a madman would actually leave the Market” – Owen Paterson MP

– “Wouldn’t it be terrible if we were really like Norway and Switzerland? Really? They’re rich. They’re happy. They’re self-governing” – Nigel Farage

– “Increasingly, the Norway option looks the best for the UK” – Arron Banks, UKIP and Leave.EU

Extremist Brexit

Redline 1

Restricting immigration

• Theresa May vetoed EU-India trade deal over visas for Indians– Brexiteers accuse EU of trade deal failures

• T.May trip to India: denies skilled worker visa; denies student visas

• 10s of thousands still promised

…but, students?!

• Net gain of £136 million pa to Sheffield alone

• Only group Theresa May reduced in 6 years

• Osborne, Treasury, BIS, Willets, Rudd, Johnson, Hammond, Cable all asked to stop targeting

• 57% public support student immigration

http://huff.to/2jA0D5T

#BrainDrainUK

Switzerland2014 referendum: restricted free movement• Suspended from Horizon 2020• Lost access to Erasmus +• Negotiated associate access

until 2016• Paid in, lost strategic influence• Lost consortium leadership

roles Ultimatum: Overturn referendum or become ‘third country’

Red line 2

EURATOM

• Came as a surprise! footnote in Brexit Bill• Worrying – deals with nuclear safety, transfer

of waste etc• Legally dubious• Seems inspired more by ECJ links

European Unified Patent• Everyone wants us to be part of this• Patent office for pharma to be hosted in UK• Will ECJ link set us apart?

http://bit.ly/2meFFtb

EU Science programs

“Does your national law foresee that you CANNOT be subject to the European Court of Justice?”– Question on Horizon 2020 grant application

EU Science programs

“Does your national law foresee that you CANNOT be subject to the European Court of Justice?”– Question on Horizon 2020 grant application

• Even Switzerland could agree to this!

Summary

• Immigration– Loss of students: skills, fees– Loss of skilled workers: skills, entrepreneurs– Demotion from EU science: Switzerland

• European Court of Justice– Loss of EU science– Loss of European Patent agreement, Single

Market, Digital Single Market, FinTech, Defence Research Funds, Pharma regulations…